Introduction to Plate Tectonics: Origin of Islands, Archipelagos and the Ocean Floor

The geology of the Earth has recently been rewritten by the theory of plate tectonics. The theory of plate tectonics, formulated in the 1960s, revolutionized every aspect of Earth science. Plate tectonics explains how the large features of the Earth–both land and sea floor–originated and evolved through the vast span of geologic time. This book explores the role of plate tectonics in the origin and evolution of the ocean floor, islands, archipelagos and continents. Throughout most of geologic time, archipelagos and microcontinents (the building blocks) have accreted to continents; and, continents have broken apart by rifting. Plate tectonics also influenced the evolution of life and fossil record by constantly changing the shape of continents and sea floor and by repeated cycles of amalgamating and fragmenting land masses. The book is richly illustrated with annotate illustrations for interpreting features such as islands, archipelagos, oceanic ridges, oceanic trenches, seamounts, guyots and fracture zones of the ocean basins and continental margins.