GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURES

 STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY – a branch of geology that deals with  SYNCLINE

the shapes, arrangement, and interrelationships of bedrock  is a series of down-arched strata with limbs dipping
units and the forces that causes them. inwards in opposite directions towards the fold axis--
 Geologic structures are produced when rocks break or bend due an eroded surface indicates the rocks become
to the applied stresses within the earth. progressively older away from the fold axis
 Due to these applied stresses, rocks/ rock formations deform.
 Deformation of rocks are brought about by plate tectonics
processes and burial of sediments.
 the movement of a large or small part of the crust creates
stress, a force that acts on a body and tends to change its size
and shape.
 the adjustment of the rock unit to stress is called strain. It is the
change in the rock size (volume) or shape in response to stress.
STRIKE AND DIP
 are attitudes in the rocks produced by geologic forces and
present after the rocks are folded (bent) or faulted (cracked and
moved along the crack)
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FOLDING AND FAULTING
Strike
 is an imaginary line with compass direction constructed on the
surface of a sedimentary bed or fault in which all points on that
line are of equal elevation--the compass direction is usually
expressed as a bearing
Dip
 is an imaginary line constructed down-slope on a sedimentary
bed or fault--the dip direction is perpendicular to the strike
direction and usually expressed in bearing and an angle of tilt
(dip) measured from the horizontal plane to the top of a bed or
fault--a dip angle may not exceed 90 degrees

 Because different rocks behave differently under stress, we

expect that some rocks when subjected to the same stress will
fracture or fault, while others will fold.
 When such contrasting rocks occur in the same area, such as
ductile rocks overlying brittle rocks, the brittle rocks may fault
and the ductile rocks may bend or fold over the fault
 Also since even ductile rocks can eventually fracture under high
stress, rocks may fold up to a certain point then fracture to form
a fault.
 DOMES
 is an up-arched series of strata with beds on all sides
dipping away from the center throughout 360
degrees--an eroded surface indicates the rocks
become progressively younger away from the center
of the structure
 BASIN
 is a down-arched series of strata with beds on all sides
dipping in towards the center throughout 360
degrees--an eroded surface indicates the rocks
become progressively older away from the center of
the structure

FOLDED STRUCTURES
 are warps in rock layers and occur bended upwards,
downwards, or sideways--compressional forces are the prime
causes of folds.
Kinds of Folds
 ANTICLINE
 is a series of up-arched strata with side portions
(limbs) dipping in opposite directions away from the
central portion of fold split by a plane called the axial
plane and observed in the top (plan) view as the fold  MONOCLINES
axis--an eroded surface indicates the rocks become  is a bend in the strata resulting in a local steepening in
progressively younger away from the fold axis dip of the strata which is almost flat lying on both
sides away from the bend-- there is only one direction
of dip in the monocline
 RECUMBENT FOLDS

Specific types of anticlines and synclines

 1. Symmetrical fold--is a fold with the sides showing a mirror
image with respect to the axial plane FAULTS
 2. Asymmetrical fold--a fold without a mirror image in respect to  A fault is a structure with major displacement of rock material
the axial plane along a crack in a rock
 3. Overturned fold--a fold in which the axial plane is tilted and Types of faults
beds may dip in same direction on both sides of the axial plane
 The types of faults are based on relative movement along the
 4. Recumbent fold--a fold with the axial plane horizontal
cracked rock and include horizontal, vertical, or a combination
 5. Non-plunging and plunging folds
of movements
Non-plunging and plunging folds
Vertical or dip slip fault
 plunging is the tilting of the fold towards the front or back end--
 is that type with movement along the dip of the fault--the
most anticlines and synclines have some degree of plunge
concepts of hanging wall and footwall are important in defining
 in non-plunging folds contact lines separating formations shown
the different types of vertical faults
in the surface view are parallel and straight---the contact lines in
 if the angle of dip is not 90 degrees the side of the fault with the
one of the two profile views are horizontal and parallel---the
portion of land which appears to be hanging over a lower
contacts in the other profile view are arched up or down--in
portion before movement is called the hanging wall and that on
plunging folds contact lines in the surface view are curved---
the bottom, the footwall
contact lines in one of the profile views dip in the direction of
THE HANGING WALL AND FOOTWALL CONCEPT
plunge---contact lines in the other profile view are arched up or
down--the surface contact lines between formations are
convexed (closed) in the direction of plunge for the anticline and
concave (open) in the direction of plunge for the syncline

SYMMETRICAL, ASYMMETRICAL AND OVERTURNED FOLDS

TYPES OF VERTICAL/DIP - SLIP FAULTS

 NORMAL FAULTS - hanging wall moves down in respect to
footwall
 REVERSE FAULT--hanging wall moves up in respect to footwall--a
low angled reverse fault is called a thrust fault
 Thrust fault - a low angle reverse fault
OVERTURNED FOLDS NORMAL FAULTS
 In normal faulting, the largest (most compressive) stress is
vertical. The smallest and intermediate stresses are horizontal.
The shear fracture (fault) makes an angle of less than 45 degrees
with the major (most compressive) principal stress direction, in
this case the vertical. If the average stress is subtracted from all
the principal stresses, the crust is in relative tension
REVERSE FAULT
 In reverse faulting, the smallest (least compressive) stress is
vertical. The largest and intermediate stresses are horizontal.
The shear fracture (fault) makes an angle of less than 45 degrees
with the major (most compressive) principal stress direction, in
this case the horizontal. If the average stress is subtracted from
all the principal stresses, the crust is in relative compression.
HORIZONTAL OR STRIKE – SLIP FAULTS
 Movement along strike-slip faults is horizontal.
 is that type with horizontal movement along the cracked rock--
movement can be left lateral or right lateral--best example of
right lateral strike slip fault is the San Andreas fault in California-
 -looking down the fault line in the front plan view, the right side
of the fault appears to have moved towards you if a right lateral
fault or left side moves towards you if a left lateral fault
STRIKE-SLIP FAULTS
HORIZONTAL OR STRIKE – SLIP FAULTS
 In strike-slip faulting, the intermediate stress is vertical. The
largest and smallest stresses are horizontal. The shear fracture
(fault) makes an angle of less than 45 degrees with the major
(most compressive) principal stress direction, in this case again
the horizontal. There is no vertical movement.
 In strike-slip faulting, the two blocks move either to the left
(sinistral ) or to the right (dextral) relative to one another.
Strike-slip faults are associated with crustal shear and are also
known as wrench faults.
HORST AND GRABEN
 a wedge of land which moves up (horst) or down (graben)
between 2 normal faults--best example is the Rhine River
graben in Europe
Oblique fault
 is a fault which has a major dip slip and strike slip component
JOINTS
 fractures in the rocks in which there is no appreciable
displacement along the crack--often joints occur in 2 sets of
cracks intersecting between 45-90 degrees dividing the rocks
into rectangular blocks
Causes of joints
1. Unloading or sheeting effects
2. Stresses in a cooling magma
 can cause columnar jointing in which there
are 6-sided fractures comprising the jointing pattern.
(eg. Devil’s Tower, Wyoming)
UNCONFORMITIES
 is a surface of non-deposition or erosion which represents a
break in the rock record--is a structure comprised of a sequence
of geologic events in which there is often a significant portion of
the geologic history lost through massive erosion--
unconformities are used to help separate geologic time divisions
Kinds of unconformities
1. Disconformity
a series of sedimentary rocks form, next a non-deposition or
massive erosion event occurs, then a series of more sedimentary rocks are
deposited
STEPS IN THE FORMATION OF A DISCONFORMITY
 Deposit a series of conformable beds. Following the Law of
SUPERPOSITION OF STRATA the layer on the bottom was
deposited first and the sequence was deposited from the
bottom up. Each different pattern represents a different kind of
sedimentary rock -- except for the fact that the rocks were
deposited underwater, we don't need to bother with the rock
names for this exercise.
 In this figure the beds are uplifted. Erosion occurs at the top of
the picture. Material is removed from the top down and carried
away from the picture area. Uplift keeps lifting the pile into the
erosion zone. Count the beds in picture #2 and compare with
picture #1. Note that several of the younger beds have been
lost.
 The erosion surface is shown in dark brown, In picture #2 this
surface is irregular and shows hills and stream valleys in cross
section. Such irregularity is common but there are cases where
erosion has produced a flat surface. Soil often develops below
the erosion surface and some features of the soil may be
preserved in the rock record -- leaving clues by which geologists
can recognize old erosion surfaces.
 In the figure, deposition resumes. Maybe the water rose or
maybe the land dropped -- you can't tell which from what is
shown in these pictures. New sediments shown in red at the top
of the picture bury the old erosion surface and the strata below
it. The valleys are filled first and may contain clasts (the red
spots) of the older rocks. Soon even the hills are under water
and the deposits are flatlying.
 The Disconformity shows physical signs that uplift and erosion
has occurred but bedding is parallel on both sides of the
contact.
2. Angular unconformity
- a series of sedimentary rocks form, next rocks are folded or
tilted, next a non-deposition or massive erosion occurs, then a series of
more sedimentary rocks form.
STEPS IN THE FORMATION OF AN ANGULAR UNCONFORMITY
 Deposit a series of conformable beds. Following the Law of
SUPERPOSITION OF STRATA the layer on the bottom was
deposited first and the sequence was deposited from the
bottom up. Each different pattern represents a different kind of
sedimentary rock -- except for the fact that the rocks were
deposited underwater, we don't need to bother with the rock
names for this exercise.
 In this step deposition stops and the beds are tilted and faulted.
The picture shown in the sketch doesn't let me tell whether the
faulting occurred before the tilting or vice versa.
 In this step the faulted, tilted beds are uplifted. Erosion occurs
at the top of the picture. Material is removed from the top
down and carried away from the picture area. Uplift keeps
lifting the pile into the erosion zone at the earth's surface.
 The erosion surface is shown in dark brown, In picture #3 this
surface is irregular and shows hills and stream valleys in cross
section. Such irregularity is common but there are cases where
erosion has produced a flat surface. Soil often develops below
the erosion surface and some features of the soil may be
 preserved in the rock record -- leaving clues by which geologists
can recognize old erosion surfaces.
 The presence of erosion strongly implies that uplift occurred.
CONTINENTAL DRIFT
 In the figure, deposition resumes. Maybe the water rose or
maybe the land dropped -- you can't tell which from what is
shown in these pictures. New sediments shown in red at the top
of the picture bury the old erosion surface and the strata below
it. The valleys are filled first and may contain clasts (the red
spots) of the older rocks. Soon even the hills are under water
and the deposits are flatlying.
CONTINENTAL DRIFT AND FOSSIL CORRELATIONS
ANGULAR UNCONFORMITY
Nonconformity
 igneous or metamorphic rock form, next a non-deposition or
massive erosion event occurs, then a series of sedimentary
rocks form
CONTINENTAL DRIFT AND GLACIATION
Importance of geologic structures
 Oil and natural gas are formed and found trapped in subsurface
folds
 Faults, joints, and fractures can act as a passageway for
groundwater and a host for valuable mineral deposits as ores of
gold, silver, copper etc.
 Unconformities can be used to mark geologic time boundaries
for eras, periods, and epochs
____________________________________________
THE EARTH’S INTERIOR
Layers of the Earth
The Earth is divided into three chemical layers: the core, the mantle and
the crust. The core is composed of mostly iron and nickel and remains
very hot, even after 4.5 billion years of cooling.
 The core is divided into two layers: a solid inner core and a
liquid outer core.
 The middle layer of the Earth, the mantle, is made of minerals
rich in the elements iron, magnesium, silicon, and oxygen.
 The crust is rich in the elements oxygen and silicon with lesser
amounts of aluminum, iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium,
and sodium.
 There are two types of crust. Basalt is the most common rock on
Earth.
 Oceanic crust is made of relatively dense rock called basalt.
Continental crust is made of lower density rocks, such as
andesite and granite.
The outermost layers of the Earth can be divided by their physical
properties into lithosphere and asthenosphere.
 The lithosphere (from the Greek, lithos, stone) is the rigid
outermost layer made of crust and uppermost mantle. The
lithosphere is the "plate" of the plate tectonic theory.
 The asthenosphere (from the Greek, asthenos, devoid of force)
is part of the mantle that flows, a characteristic called plastic
behavior.
 The flow of the asthenosphere is part of mantle convection,
which plays an important role in moving lithospheric plates.
 Continental drift was originally proposed by Alfred Wegener, a
German meteorologist, in 1912.
 Wegener used the fit of the continents, the distribution of
fossils, a similar sequence of rocks at numerous locations,
ancient climates, and the apparent wandering of the Earth's
polar regions to support his idea. He used his observations to
hypothesize that all of the present-day continents were once
part of a single supercontinent called Pangaea.
 Fossils of the same species were found on several different
continents.
 Wegener proposed that the species dispersed when the
continents were connected and later carried to their present
positions as the continents drifted.
 For example, Glossopteris, a fern, was found on the continents
of South America, Africa, India, and Australia. If the continents
are reassembled into Pangaea, the distribution of Glossopteris
can be accounted for over a much smaller contiguous
geographic area.
 The distribution of other species can also be accounted for by
initially spreading across Pangaea, followed by the breakup of
the supercontinent, and movement of the continents to their
present positions.
 Glaciation in South America, Africa, India, and Australia is best
explained if these continents were once connected. Glaciers
covered all or part of each of these continents during the same
time period in the geologic past.
 If the continents were in their present position, a major
glaciation event that covered nearly all of the continents and
extended north of the equator would be required.
 Geologists have found no evidence of glacial action in the
northern hemisphere during this time period. In fact, during this
time period, the climate in North America was warm.
 Wegener proposed that the continents were adjacent to each
other during the glacial event. Therefore, glaciers spread over a
much smaller area in the southern hemisphere and probably did
not influence the climate of the northern hemisphere.
 Wegener used the distribution of specific rock types to
determine the distribution of climate zones in the geologic past.
For example, glacial till and striations (scratches on the rock),
sand dunes, and coral reefs, indicate polar, desert, and tropical
climates, respectively.
 Using the distribution of rock types, Wegener reconstructed the
distribution of climates zones at specific times in the geologic
past. He found that, unlike the present distribution, in which
zones parallel the equator, the past zones occupied very
different positions.
 This implies that the rotational pole was in very different
locations relative to today.
 Wegener proposed an alternative interpretation. He believed
that the climate zones remained stationary and the continents
drifted to different locations. The drift of the continents caused
the apparent movement of the climate zones.
  Wegener used the distribution of climate zones to determine
the location of the poles at different times in the geologic past.
 He found that the rotational pole appears to gradually change
location, arriving at its present position only in the very recent
geologic past. The apparent movement in the pole position over
time is called polar wandering.
 Wegener offered an alternative explanation. He suggested that
the poles remained stationary and that the continents changed
their positions relative to the poles.
Problems with Wegener's Model of Continental Drift
 Wegener's model was not accepted by all geologists. Some
thought that dispersion by winds or ocean currents could
explain the distribution of fossil species. Other geologists
thought the poles might wander and continents remain
stationary.
 The greatest shortcoming, was the lack of an adequate
mechanism for moving the continents. Wegener proposed that
the Earth's spin caused the continents to move, plowing through
the oceanic plate and producing mountains on their leading
edges.
 Geologists at that time understood enough about the strength
of rocks to know that this was highly unlikely.
 Wegener's work was largely unaccepted in the northern
hemisphere. In the southern hemisphere, where geologists
were familiar with the rocks that Wegener used to support his
hypothesis, continental drift was generally accepted.
 A mechanism to move continents was proposed by Arthur
Holmes, Scottish geologist in 1928. He believed heat trapped in
the Earth caused convection currents, areas where fluids
beneath the Earth's crust rise, flow laterally, and then fall.
 The currents would rise beneath continents, spread laterally,
then plunge beneath the oceans. (Geologists now know that
solid rock, not fluids, convect in the mantle).
 Wegener died in 1930 while exploring the Greenland ice cap. He
never had the opportunity to adapt Holmes' ideas to his views
of continental drift.
The Revival of the Continental Drift Hypothesis
 During the 1940s and 1950s, great advances were made in our
knowledge of the sea floor and in the magnetic properties of
rocks. Both of these fields of study provided new evidence to
support continental drift.
 Geologists have known for over a century that a ridge exists in
the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is
6,500 feet (2,000 m) above the adjacent sea floor, which is at a
depth of about 20,000 feet (6,000 m) below sea level.
 In the 1950s, a seismologist, a scientist who specializes in the
study of earthquakes, showed that the global system of mid-
ocean ridges was also an active seismic belt, or zone of
earthquakes.
 An international group of geologists proposed that the seismic
belt corresponded to a trough, or rift, system similar to the
trough known at the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The rifts
are about 20 miles (30 km) wide and 6,500 feet (2,000 m) deep.
In all, the oceanic ridges and their rifts extend for more than
37,500 miles (60,000 km) in all the world's oceans.
Sea-Floor Spreading
 In 1962, a geologist presented an explanation for the global rift
system.
 Harry Hess proposed that new ocean floor is formed at the rift
of mid-ocean ridges. The ocean floor, and the rock beneath it,
are produced by magma that rises from deeper levels.
 Hess suggested that the ocean floor moved laterally away from
the ridge and plunged into an oceanic trench along the
continental margin.
 A trench is a steep-walled valley on the sea floor adjacent to a
continental margin. As an example, ocean crust formed at the
East Pacific Rise, an oceanic ridge in the east Pacific, plunges
into the trench adjacent to the Andes Mountains on the west
side of the South American continent. In Hess' model,
convection currents push the ocean floor from the mid-ocean
ridge to the trench. The convection currents might also help
move the continents, much like a conveyor belt.
 As Hess formulated his hypothesis, Robert Dietz independently
proposed a similar model and called it sea floor spreading.
Dietz's model had a significant addition. It assumed the sliding
surface was at the base of the lithosphere, not at the base of
the crust.
 Hess and Dietz succeeded where Wegener had failed.
Continents are no longer thought to plow through oceanic crust
but are considered to be part of plates that move on the soft,
plastic asthenosphere.
 A driving force, convection currents, moved the plates.
 Technological advances and detailed studies of the ocean floor,
both unavailable during Wegener's time, allowed Hess and Dietz
to generate the new hypotheses.
Subduction
 If new oceanic lithosphere is created at mid-ocean ridges, where
does it go?
 Geologists had the answer to this question before Vine and
Matthews presented their hypothesis.
 In 1935, K. Wadati, a Japanese seismologist, showed that
earthquakes occurred at greater depths towards the interior of
the Asian continent. Earthquakes beneath the Pacific Ocean
occurred at shallow depths. Earthquakes beneath Siberia and
China occurred at greater depths. After World War II, H. Benioff
observed the same distribution of earthquakes but could not
offer a plausible explanation.
 The movement of oceanic lithosphere away from mid-ocean
ridges provides an explanation.
 Convection cells in the mantle help carry the lithosphere away
from the ridge. The lithosphere arrives at the edge of a
continent, where it is subducted or sinks into the
asthenosphere.
 Thus, oceanic lithosphere is created at mid-ocean ridges and
consumed at subduction zones, areas where the lithosphere
sinks into the asthenosphere.
 Earthquakes are generated in the rigid plate as it is subducted
into the mantle. The dip of the plate under the continent
accounts for the distribution of the earthquakes. Magma
generated along the top of the sinking slab rises to the surface
to form stratovolcanoes.
PLATE TECTONICS
 The new hypotheses of the early 1960s explained several
puzzling sets of observations. All that remained was a synthesis
of these hypotheses.
 The synthesis began in 1965 when Tuzo Wilson introduced the
term plate for the broken pieces of the Earth's lithosphere.
 In 1967, Jason Morgan proposed that the Earth's surface
consists of 12 rigid plates that move relative to each other. Two
months later, Xavier Le Pichon published a synthesis showing
the location and type of plate boundaries and their direction of
movement.
 Since the mid-1960s, the plate tectonic model has been
rigorously tested. Because the model has been successfully
tested by numerous methods, it is now called the plate tectonic
theory and is accepted by almost all geologists.
 Earthquakes and volcanoes, evidence of unrest in the Earth,
help locate the edges of plates. Earthquakes are distributed in
narrow, linear belts that circle the Earth.
 Some of these belts have only shallow (0-20 miles; 0-35 km)
earthquakes, like the mid-Atlantic and east Pacific ridges. In
contrast, earthquakes in other belts, like western South America
and south-central Asia, are at shallow, intermediate (20-45
miles; 30-70 km), and deep (45-450 miles; 70-700 km) levels.
  Volcanoes are also distributed in long belts that circle the Earth.
A dramatic example is the line of volcanoes that circles most of
the Pacific Ocean. This belt is known as the "Ring of Fire"
because it is the site of frequent volcanic eruptions.
 The distribution of earthquakes and volcanoes coincides at most
locations. The Ring of Fire is an excellent example.
 Geologists believe that areas of intense geologic activity,
indicated by earthquakes, volcanoes, and/or mountain building,
mark the boundaries between lithospheric plates.
 The distribution of earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain
ranges define 7 large plates and 20 smaller plates. The Nazca
and Juan de Fuca Plates consist of only oceanic lithosphere. The
Pacific Plate is mostly oceanic lithosphere only a small slice of
continental lithosphere in southern California and Baja Mexico.
Most of the other plates consist of both oceanic and continental
lithosphere.
Types of Plate Motion
 The ways that plates interact depend on their relative motion
and whether oceanic or continental crust is at the edge of the
lithospheric plate. Plates move away from, toward, or slide past
each other. Geologists call these divergent, convergent, and
transform plate boundaries.
 At a divergent plate boundary lithospheric plates move away
from each other. The mid-Atlantic Ridge, a topographically high
area near the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, is an example of a
divergent plate boundary.
 At a convergent plate boundary, lithospheric plates move
toward each other. The west margin of the South American
continent, where the oceanic Nazca Plate is pushed toward and
beneath the continental portion of the South American Plate, is
an example of a convergent plate boundary.
 At a transform plate boundary, plates slide past each other. The
San Andreas fault in California is an example of a transform
plate boundary, where the Pacific Plate slides past the North
American Plate.
DIVERGINGBOUNDARIES
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge splitting Iceland and separating the North
American and Eurasian Plates. The map also shows Reykjavik, the capital
of Iceland, the Thingvellir area, and the locations of some of Iceland's
active volcanoes (red triangles), including Krafla.
 Perhaps the best known of the divergent boundaries is the Mid-
Atlantic Ridge. This submerged mountain range, which extends
from the Arctic Ocean to beyond the southern tip of Africa, is
but one segment of the global mid-ocean ridge system that
encircles the Earth. The rate of spreading along the Mid-Atlantic
Ridge averages about 2.5 centimeters per year (cm/yr), or 25 km
in a million years.
CONVERGING BOUNDARIES
 Trenches are the deepest parts of the ocean floor and are
created by subduction.
 Off the coast of South America along the Peru-Chile trench, the
oceanic Nazca Plate is pushing into and being subducted under
the continental part of the South American Plate. In turn, the
overriding South American Plate is being lifted up, creating the
towering Andes mountains, the backbone of the continent.
 Oceanic-continental convergence also sustains many of the
Earth's active volcanoes, such as those in the Andes and the
Cascade Range in the Pacific Northwest.
 The eruptive activity is clearly associated with subduction, but
scientists vigorously debate the possible sources of magma: Is
magma generated by the partial melting of the subducted
oceanic slab, or the overlying continental lithosphere, or both?
Oceanic-oceanic convergence
 Subduction processes in oceanic-oceanic plate convergence also
result in the formation of volcanoes.
 Over millions of years, the erupted lava and volcanic debris pile
up on the ocean floor until a submarine volcano rises above sea
level to form an island volcano.
 Such volcanoes are typically strung out in chains called island
arcs. As the name implies, volcanic island arcs, which closely
parallel the trenches, are generally curved.
 The trenches are the key to understanding how island arcs such
as the Marianas and the Aleutian Islands have formed and why
they experience numerous strong earthquakes.
 Magmas that form island arcs are produced by the partial
melting of the descending plate and/or the overlying oceanic
lithosphere. The descending plate also provides a source of
stress as the two plates interact, leading to frequent moderate
to strong earthquakes.
Continental-continental convergence
 The Himalayan mountain range dramatically demonstrates one
of the most visible and spectacular consequences of plate
tectonics. When two continents meet head-on, neither is
subducted because the continental rocks are relatively light and,
like two colliding icebergs, resist downward motion. Instead, the
crust tends to buckle and be pushed upward or sideways.
 The collision of India into Asia 50 million years ago caused the
Eurasian Plate to crumple up and override the Indian Plate.
After the collision, the slow continuous convergence of the two
plates over millions of years pushed up the Himalayas and the
Tibetan Plateau to their present heights. Most of this growth
occurred during the past 10 million years.
 The Himalayas, towering as high as 8,854 m above sea level,
form the highest continental mountains in the world. Moreover,
the neighboring Tibetan Plateau, at an average elevation of
about 4,600 m, is higher than all the peaks in the Alps except for
Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa, and is well above the summits of
most mountains in the United States.
Transform boundaries
 The zone between two plates sliding horizontally past one
another is called a transform-fault boundary, or simply a
transform boundary. The concept of transform faults originated
with Canadian geophysicist J. Tuzo Wilson, who proposed that
these large faults or fracture zones connect two spreading
centers (divergent plate boundaries) or, less commonly,
trenches (convergent plate boundaries). Most transform faults
are found on the ocean floor.
 They commonly offset the active spreading ridges, producing
zig-zag plate margins, and are generally defined by shallow
earthquakes. However, a few occur on land, for example the San
Andreas fault zone in California. This transform fault connects
the East Pacific Rise, a divergent boundary to the south, with the
South Gorda -- Juan de Fuca -- Explorer Ridge, another divergent
boundary to the north.