SCIENCE 10

MODULE 1: LITOSPHERE

• The lithosphere is made up of the crust and upper mantle.

• It floats in a semi-plastic layer called the asthenosphere.
• The lithosphere is divided into portions called tectonic plates.
• The edges of the tectonic plates are known as plate boundaries.

There are two types of lithosphere: oceanic lithosphere and continental lithosphere.

✓ The oceanic crust is relatively younger than the continental crust.

✓ The oceanic lithosphere is thinner than the continental lithosphere

✓ The oceanic lithosphere is denser as compared to the continental lithosphere.

✓ The oceanic crust is primarily composed of basaltic rocks while the continental crust is
primarily composed of granitic rocks.

• There are fifteen major tectonic plates – seven are primary while eight are
secondary.

Primary Plates – large in size

o North American o Australian

o South American o African
o Eurasian o Antarctic.
o Pacific

Secondary plates - smaller

o Arabian o Scotia
o Juan de Fuca o Indian
o Cocos o Philippine
o Nazca o Caribbean

MODULE 2: Earthquakes, Active Volcanoes, and Major Mountain Ranges

 • Geologic events and features such as earthquakes, active volcanoes, and major
mountain ranges are distributed near or along plate boundaries.
• The Pacific Plate’s Ring of Fire is the most active boundary. Places within the Pacific
Ring of Fire has lots of active volcanoes and experiences numerous strong and
destructive earthquakes.
• Seismic activity, volcanism, and mountain building were used by scientists as the basis
for dividing the lithosphere into several plates.
• Earthquake is the sudden movement of the earth’s crust; it travels in the form of seismic
waves.

There are two types of seismic waves, the body waves and the surface waves.

• Body waves are of two types: Primary waves (also called P-waves, or pressure waves)
and Secondary waves (S-waves, or shear waves).
• P waves travel fastest and are the first to arrive from the earthquake and reaches the
seismic station first.
• Since Swaves cannot travel through the liquid layer of the earth it causes a delay in its
arrival time to the seismic station.
• Another type is surface wave, it can only travel on the surface of the earth, and it arrives
after the body wave.

To compute for the distance of the earthquake to a seismic station,

1. scientists use the difference in the arrival time of P-wave and S-wave in seconds by
multiplying it to 8 kilometers per second (km/s). The higher the time difference
between the arrival of the P and S waves, the farther the distance from the
epicenter.
2. After obtaining the distance of the earthquake from at least three different seismic
stations
3. The earthquake epicenter is determined using triangulation method.
• Earthquake epicenters are scattered everywhere unlike active volcanoes and
mountain belts (mountain range) that can only be found along the edges of the plates.
• Volcanoes and earthquakes are not randomly distributed around the globe. Instead
they tend to occur along limited zones or belts. All of them are created by the process
of plate tectonics.
MODULE 3 & 4: PLATE TECTONICS AND PLATE BOUNDARIES

Plate Tectonics – A theory which suggests that Earth’s crust is made of plates that interact in
various ways, thus producing earthquakes, mountains, volcanoes, and other geologic features.

Plate Boundaries are found at the edge of the lithospheric plates.

Three main types of Plate Boundary.

1. Convergent (destructive) – moving towards each other.

Type of stress: compression
Example the formation of Himalayas (Mount Everest)
2. Divergent (constructive) – moving away from each other
Type of stress: tension
Example:Philippine Plate (Northern Luzon, Philippine sea and Taiwan) and the Eurasian
Plate (includes most of the continent of Europe and Asia
3. Conservative (Transform Fault) – slide past each other
Type of stress: shear
Example San Andreas fault in United States of America

Module 5: Convergent Plate Boundary

Convergent plate boundary is formed when two plates are moving toward each other.

Three examples of convergent boundaries

 The collision between the Eurasian Plate and the Indian Plate that is forming the
Himalayas.
 Subduction of the northern part of the Pacific Plate and the NW North American Plate
that is forming the Aleutian Islands.
 Subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South American Plate to form the Andes.
Subduction – a process that occurs when a denser plate tends to move beneath a less dense
plate.

Three types of convergent boundaries

Convergent boundaries occur between oceanic-oceanic lithosphere, oceanic-continental

lithosphere, and continental-continental lithosphere. The collision may result in the formation of
mountains, trenches, occurrence of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and other geological
events.

1. Oceanic-to-oceanic – it occurs when two oceanic plates collide with one plate pushed
under each other, forming a subduction zone. The denser plate plunges into the mantle
and melts under high temperature and pressure, forming magma. The magma, which is
less dense, rises and erupts from the sea floor, forming an oceanic volcanic arc.
2. Oceanic-to-continental – is a result of the collision of the oceanic crust with the
continental crust. In this type of convergence, the thinner and denser oceanic crust is
subducted under the thicker and less dense continental crust. When the edge of the
oceanic crust reaches the mantle, it will melt, forming magma. Then the less dense
magma will rise to reach the crust, causing volcanic activity and the occurrence of
earthquakes. Mountains are also formed on the continental plate and trenches on the
oceanic side.
3. Continental-to-continental – there is no subduction process, no trench, no volcano,
and no island arc. Instead, a large group of tall mountains is formed, called a mountain
range. Because of this convergence, the Himalayas were formed. It is the most visible
product of plate tectonics.

Module 6:

The crust, mantle, and core are the primary parts that make up the Earth's structure. Each
layer has a significant role in maintaining the earth’s stability in sustaining life.
  Core – keeps the earth’s magnetic field and is in solid and liquid form.
 Mantle – is the thickest part of the earth that is liquid in form.
 Crust – is the outer part and considered the thinnest layer of the earth where living
things reside. It is divided into plates, and each plate has edges which are called
Boundaries.

Three types of plate boundaries

1. Divergent Boundary – It happens when two plates move away from each other. As
these two plates move in this direction, it creates an earthquake, new seafloor,
oceanic ridge, and a rift valley
2. Transform boundary – is the motion of two plates sliding past each other. This
boundary may result in an earthquake.
3. Convection Current – The circular motion of the liquid mantle that is responsible for
the movement of the plates on the surface of the earth.

Earthquake – is the shaking of the earth’s surface when energy is released due to the breaking
of rocks beneath the earth’s lithosphere.

Module 7: Plate Movement

Plate Tectonics is a theory describing the movement of massive lithospheric plates. It

illustrates that plates move and interact with one another due to different processes and forces
present.

 Earth’s lithosphere is composed of the crust and the uppermost mantle.

 There are two kinds of crusts, namely Oceanic Crust and Continental crust.
 The asthenosphere is the part of the mantle made up of highly viscous molten rocks
that are capable of flowing and the denser, weaker layer beneath the lithospheric
mantle.
 The Continental drift theory and Seafloor Spreading Theory illustrate the movement
of the plates.
 The process that describes how oceanic plates break at the mid-ocean ridge is defined
as seafloor spreading.
 The subduction process occurs when the plates move toward the subduction zones
and plunge into the mantle.
 The different forces that cause the plates to move are convection current, ridge push
and slab pull.

Continental Drift theory states that the continents were once part of a large landmass
(supercontinent) called Pangaea that broke apart 200 million years ago.

Convection current is the force that facilitates the movement of plates.

Ridge push is the pressure exerted by the mid-ocean ridge pushing the slab toward the
subduction zones.

Seafloor spreading is a geologic process in which tectonic plates- large slab of Earth’s
lithosphere-split apart from each other.

Slab Pull is the force exerted by the subducted slab on the plate at the subduction zones.

Subduction zone is a place where two plates collide and one dense plate sinks beneath
another.