Talk:Plate tectonics
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Bearing in mind that I am not a geologist, I thought it was the case that faults exist within plates as well as between them. Is this not true? I am thinking of the "fault" that produced the New Madrid earthquake as an example of an intra-continental fault. -- Egern
- I confess to not being a geologist either, but I believe that non-boundary faults are sometimes caused by material welling up from the mantle at "hotspots", which if I recall correctly are thinner/weakened areas in the middle of plates. -- April
- The plate boundaries are not simply equal to faults as previously stated. Rift valleys have been called faults, it simply means a break in rock. We sort of get trapped in words and legacy. Back when plate tectonics was heresy (I remember the arguments in our organization!) a trench or rift might more easily been seen as "just a fault" as its unique activity and even function was not recognized. Conventional faults don't "do" anything. They just slip and jar. Transform faults are such passive beasts, even ones like San Andreas. Rifts (divergence) and trenches (convergence) function. Rifts add new surface. If it weren't for the trenches this old globe would perhaps be like an expanding balloon. It hasn't gotten significantly larger considering all that spreading. Remember Harry Hess' "recycle" comment. Convergence boundaries consume what divergences produced so long ago. They deserve not just being "faults."
- And, yes, faults occur well away from any current plate boundary with origins thought to be other than direct plate boundary action. That New Madrid earthquake fault is an interesting thing. There was some thinking, if I recall correctly, that it could be what might be termed a "fossil" plate boundary and it lies quite deep.
- In my view this section either needs much more work or much simplification. If it is to stand alone it needs more work. On the other hand there is a great deal of excellent and authoritative material already on the Internet; for example, the U.S. Geological Survey's excellent on line publication This Dynamic Earth provides more than is ever likely to be found here. Perhaps a brief descriptive definition and reference to several such publications would be better. -- 209.249.180.153
Does this, perhaps, need a list of the major tectonic plates? Memory is failing me here; I can recall the Pacific and North Atlantic oceanic plates, and the North American, South American, and African plates, but after that I get sketchy as to what's a plate and what isn't. -- April
Well, there are 10 plates: Pacific, North American, Cocos, Nazca, South American, African, Eurasian, Indian, Australian, and Antarctic plates.
Plate tectonics is a model rather than merely a theory is it not? (How fortunate the Bible had nothing to say in the subject.) Wetman 19:16, 22 Nov 2003 (UTC)
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Continental plate ?
Opposition to the theory?
I was under the impression that there is some fairly vocal opposition to this theory. It si just a hunch, I heard years ago, but I remember it enough to raise the question. Anyone else familiar with that? If so, it should be covered in the article. - Taxman 21:27, Nov 19, 2004 (UTC)
- Well, it was certainly controversial when it came out, but very few mainsteam geologists are opposed to it today. The main opposition (if it could be called "main") is the expanding earth theory, promoted for a long time by S. Warren Carey, an Australian geologist. When he started in 1956, plate tectonics wasn't yet developed. The big problem is, by what mechanism does the Earth expand? It's definitely a fringe view today.Gwimpey 01:12, Nov 20, 2004 (UTC)
Andes
Could anyone who is geologicaly inclined please have a look at Andes. There is currently a warning saying that the section on geology is pre-plate tectonics, so could anyone who knows about such things please have a squiz. The bellman 11:04, 2004 Nov 26 (UTC)
I think that the ocean in fact does not get bigger because of plate tectonics. If the magme spreads the plates apart and creates more oceanic crust, then the oceanic plates will just go below other plates and the ocean will get new crust and lose old crust. I do think, however, that the land masses will get bigger from the rifts on the land and the land plates will go over all the oceanic crusted plates. -Zach
I am sorry for putting this under the wrong category- it should be under Opposition To The Theory. Anyway, if I am wrong on my previous theory, would somebody please respond at Talk:Seafloor_spreading discussion? Thank you. -Zach
- Depends. You can have some oceans getting bigger, and some where oceanic crust, as you describe, plunges below some continental crust. See, for instance, the formation of the Himalaya: the Indian peninsula came from the south, the sea between India and Asia gradually disappeared, and they collided fully. David.Monniaux 10:27, 30 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Invitation
Work is currently in progress on a page entitled Views of Creationists and mainstream scientists compared. Also currently being worked upon is Wikipedia: NPOV (Comparison of views in science) giving guidelines for this type of page. It is meant to be a set of guidelines for NPOV in this setting. People knowledgable in many areas of science and the philosophy of science are greatly needed here. And all are needed to ensure the guidelines correctly represent NPOV in this setting. :) Barnaby dawson 21:42, 29 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Grammar issue
Just out of curiosity, shouldn't it be "Types of Plate Boudaries"? Sasquatch 21:38, 31 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Geological paradigm shift
This section is very good, but needs a rework to be more encylopeadic. At present it reads a little too much like an essay or a speech. In particular the use of the personal pro-noun, "we". Is it possible that someone could rework this section. --Fermion 01:29, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)