C.W. Post
Department of Earth and Environmental Science 

Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics - GLY 511
Spring 2006
Final Exam Topics

Prof. V.J. DiVenere
Dept. of Earth and Environmental Science
C.W. Post Campus - Long Island University

Here is a simplified outline of the material for the Final Exam.  This should help you to recognize the major topic areas and questions that we discussed since the midterm.  A detailed summary of the lecture topics is on the lecture topics link.  And much more detail can be found in the various summary notes web pages and in the textbook.

passive continental margins
    stretched, normal faulted, thinned continental basement with sediments draped over and out to sea

subduction zones
    Wadati-Benioff Zone
    volcanic arcs and formation of arc magma
    trench, outer bulge, subduction complex (accretionary wedge), forearc basin

continental collisions and orogenic belts
    suture zones, crustal thickening, fold and thrust belts, sediments shed from the mountains

driving forces of plate motion
    convection? (no)  gravity: ridge "push" - slab pull (mostly)

hotspot tracks and mantle plumes
    what are hotspot tracks (describe them)
    what causes hotspot tracks?
    what is a mantle plume, how does it rise, what does it look like?
    initiation of hotspot tracks with flood basalts
    from what depth do mantle plumes arise? (evidence?)
    are mantle plumes stationary? (evidence?)

tectonic history of the continents (understand the processes and sequences, but only general times)
    Precambrian crustal growth and the origin of the continents
         greenstone belts - granite/tonalite/gneiss belts
         formation of Rodinia
         breakup of Rodinia
    formation of Pangea
    Pangea breakup
    consequences of Pangea breakup (Alpine Himalayan mountain belt, western cordillera of N.Amer)

tectonics and sea level
    the effect of seafloor spreading rate on sea level and flooding of the continents

tectonics and climate
    placement of the continents and the Earth's albedo
         (e.g., the late Proterozoic "snowball Earth" episode)
    continental collisions - mountain building - increased weathering - removal of CO2 from atmosphere
         (e.g., late Paleozoic glaciations in Gondwana)
    continental breakup - flood basalts - rapid seafloor spreading - CO2 outgassing from the mantle
         (e.g., warm climate of the Cretaceous)
    continental motions and changing ocean circulation
         (e.g., thermal isolation of Antarctica and onset of Antarctic glaciation
          closure of the isthmus of Panama, intensification of the Gulf Stream, and onset of N.Hemisphere glaciation)