“How Old Is It? Plate Tectonics and the Geological Time Scale” with Alberto Malv+erno

“How Old Is It? Plate Tectonics and the Geological Time Scale” with  Alberto Malverno

Originally presented 14 Jan 2017

Alberto Malinverno’s Home Page

          Dr. ALBERTO MALINVERNO is a Lamont Research Professor with a wide range of experience and interest in marine geophysical problems. He will share some of his recent investigations about better understanding of the geological time scale through study of magnetic anomalies created by seafloor spreading and recorded on mid-ocean ridge flanks.

In the January 2012 E2C Workshop, Alberto shared discoveries about “Scientific Ocean Drilling and the Earth’s History.”

 

IntroductorySlideshow: “How Old Is It? Selected Events in Understanding Geologic History”
pptx version         pdf version

 

Pertinent NGSS Disciplinary Core Ideas:

ESS2.A: Earth Materials and Systems

• Evidence from deep probes and seismic waves, reconstructions of historical changes in Earth’s surface and its magnetic field, and an understanding of physical and chemical processes lead to a model of Earth with a hot but solid inner core, a liquid outer core, a solid mantle and crust. Motions of the mantle and its plates occur primarily through thermal convection, which involves the cycling of matter due to the outward flow of energy from Earth’s interior and gravitational movement of denser materials toward the interior.

ESS2.B: Plate Tectonics and Large-Scale System Interactions

• The radioactive decay of unstable isotopes continually generates new energy within Earth’s crust and mantle, providing the primary source of the heat that drives mantle convection. Plate tectonics can be viewed as the surface expression of mantle convection.

PS4.A: Wave Properties

• Geologists use seismic waves and their reflection at interfaces between layers to probe structures deep in the planet. (secondary to HS-ESS2-3)

 

Selected Classroom Activities

GeoMapApp Learning Activities

• Seafloor Spreading…
• Hawaiian Islands Volcanic Ages, Hot Spots, and Plate Motions

Deep Earth Academy (JOIDES Resolution) Teaching Resources

• Nannofossils reveal Seafloor Spreading Truth
• Plate Tectonics and Contributions from Scientific Ocean Drilling
• Density of Oceanic Crust
• Modeling Plate Tectonics
• The Race Is On…With Seafloor Spreading
• “Tales of the Resolution” Epsiode 6: IN Search of Ancient Lava Flows 

SERC

• Plate Tectonics Jigsaw  (Anne Eggers)
• Discovering Plate Boundaries (Dale Sawyers)

MJP Resources

• Dox Rox Time Travel (Earth History Activity)
• A Model of Radioactivity (“The Penny Lab”)

 

Additional Resources

 

• Tanya Atwayer’s Animations     Of special interest are the visualization about Plate Tectonics and Geologic History
• “A Primer about Gravity and Magnetics” by Dick Gibson
• “Plate Tectonics: The Mechanism” from UCMP Berkeley
• “The Biggest Plates on Earth” from NOAA Ocean Explorer
• “Plate Tectonics” quiz by Timothy Heaton (U. So. Dakota)
• “Dynamic Earth Interactive: Plate Tectonics” from Annenberg Learner
• “Paleomagnetism, Polar Wander, and Plate Tectonics” (Penn State University)

 

[Additional resources will be posted soon]