The Creation of the Ocean Floor Paper

The Creation of the Ocean Floor
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The Creation of the Ocean Floor
The plate boundaries are the underlying forces that form the earth’s crust. They are the different broken segments of the crust. It is, therefore, true that the earth surface is not one single plate that is connecting from one end to the other. It is a composition of different parts of the earth that forms the entire crust. Several plate boundaries exist in nature of geology. We have three types of plate boundaries that exist in nature;
1. Divergent plate boundaries
In the case of a different boundary is a scenario where there is a fault that forms between the plates. The two plates will start moving from each other as time goes by in the long run. The plates will seem to be far from each other every time as different forces start acting on the diverging plates too. Their movement would be the primary cause of the volcanic eruption if there were liquid magma under the core of the earth in the place where the diverging plates’ area is locating in the earth’s crust. During the diverging of the tectonic plates, the emergence of lava spews that comes out from the fissure is common (Acocella, 2014). Also, there are occurrences of hot geysers of super-hot water from the undersurface of the earth. One of the products of the divergent tectonic plate boundaries is the formation of mid-oceanic bodies. There is also the formation of ocean ridges and rifts. At times, there is the frequent occurrence of earthquakes along the rifts.

The magma beneath the rifts comes up to fill the space that relates leaves apart. The molten magma cools and solidifies forming the divergent boundaries of the oceanic crust composing of the basalt.
2. Convergent plate boundaries
In the scenario of the convergent tectonic plate boundaries the underlying plates move towards each other. Unlike in the divergent boundaries there no enlargements of the earth crust that occurs in the convergent boundaries (Acocella, 2014). The case in the plate movement is the two plates are pushing into one another. At the end of the process, one of the plates ends up being under the other one.
The plate that is underneath the other due to the thermal heating of the mantle of the earth it starts to melt, and parallel volcanic lines start forming on the plate. The ideas are lying in that fact that different compression forces are pushing the formation of the colliding plates all at once. The end product of the convergent boundaries is the formation of new continental plates of granite. It is from the solidification of the molten magma from the oceanic plate that bends downwards to the mantle of the earth. The new plate forms over the existing plate (Acocella, 2014).
3. Transform plate boundaries
The transform plate boundary is another plate type form action that differs from the convergent and divergent boundaries. The process occurs when the two plate slides over each other. The physical features that are over the plates crack and move in pieces on opposite sides as the plates move in different directions. There is no magma formation when it comes to the transform plate boundary (Mahony et al., 2011). The only thing that occurs is the breaking and cracking of the crust. No new coating results from the process of sliding plates.
Natural event as a result of plate boundary interactions
One of the most prevalent events that take place due to the interacting plate boundaries are the earthquakes (Rychert, 2015). The reason earthquakes occur on the earth is due to the energy that builds up on the plates as they interact. The moving plates catch on each other creating a build-up of energy between the cracks. As the power finds a way of getting out of bound it results into the formations of the earthquakes. It is a measure of the idea that the tectonic movement is not always smooth in the long run.
Plate tectonics and the theory of continental drift
The continental drift and the plate tectonic plate theory are the basic principles of geology. They are the ones that try to explain the processes through which the plates of the different regions move resulting in the formation of the new plate or enlargement of the existing ones. They are both theories that explain the existence of plate movements.
The continental drift theory and the tectonic plate theory are however different. The continental drift theory in its capacity is the idea that was by Alfred Wagner to explain the movement of plates over the molten magma (Rychert, 2015). The plates move along molten magma.
However, the plate tectonic theory states that it is the movement of oceanic and continental plates due to conventional currents that are present in the mantle of the earth. The currents can drive the plates apart or towards each other. Unlike in the continental drift theory where no force moves the plates, the force moving the plates in the plate tectonic theory is the convection theory.
References
Acocella, V. (2014). Structural control of magmatism along divergent and convergent plate boundaries: Overview, model, problems. Earth-Science Reviews, 136, 226-288. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1065/j.earscirev.2014.05.006
Mahony, S., Wallace, L., Miyoshi, M., Villamor, P., Sparks, R., & Hasenaka, T. (2011). Volcano-tectonic relationships during rapid plate boundary evolution in the Kyushu region, SW Japan. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 123(11-12), 2201-2223. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.11389/b30408.1
Richert, C. (2015). Earth Science: The slippery base of a tectonic plate. Nature, 518(7537), 39-40. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/518039a
Vanderhaeghe, O., & Duchêne, S. (2010). Crustal-scale mass translocation, topography and geotherm at convergent plate boundaries. Terra Nova, 22(5), 315-323. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3121.2010.00952.x