How does plate movement related to climate

Moreover mountain belts formed as a consequence of plate tectonic activity dramatically modify rainfall through the effects of orography - the development of a rain shadow on the leeward side of mountain belts. Global climate is also strongly controlled by ocean currents. For example, northwestern Europe is significantly warmer than other regions at similar latitudes because of the warming effects of the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Drift.

Ocean currents depend on the geometry of the oceans and this is controlled by plate tectonics. Hence, over geological timescales the movement of plates and continents has a profound effect on the distribution of land masses, mountain ranges and the connectivity of the oceans. As a consequence, plate tectonics has a very direct and fundamental influence on global climate. To illustrate this effect, the next page briefly describes the opening of a seaway between the southern tip of South America and Antarctica, and how that affected global climate.

The climate of modern Antarctica is extreme. Located over the South Pole and in total darkness for six months of the year, the continent is covered by glacial ice to depths in excess of 3 km in places. Yet this has not always been the case. So how did this extreme change come about? The modern climate of Antarctica depends upon its complete isolation from the rest of the planet as a consequence of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current that completely encircles Antarctica and gives rise to the stormy region of the Southern Ocean known as the roaring forties.

The onset of this current is related to the opening of seaways between obstructing continents. Antarctica and South America were once joined together as part of Gondwana and were the last parts of this original supercontinent to separate. By reconstructing continental positions from magnetic and other features of the sea floor in this region, geologists have shown that the Drake Passage opened in three phases between 50 Ma and 20 Ma, as illustrated in Figure At 50 Ma there was possibly a shallow seaway between Antarctica and South America, but both continents were moving together.

At 34 Ma the seaway was still narrow, but differential movement between the Antarctic and South American Plates created a deeper channel between the two continents that began to allow deep ocean water to circulate around the continent. Finally, at 20 Ma there was a major shift in local plate boundaries that allowed the rapid development of a deep-water channel between the two continental masses.

The change of orientation of the Hawaiian hot-spot trace shows that at this time the Pacific Plate changed from a northward velocity direction to a northwestward direction.

The coincidence of the change in motion of the Pacific Plate with changes in plate motions between S. In the present day, the contribution of volcanic emissions of CO 2 into the atmosphere is very small; equivalent to about one per cent of anthropogenic caused by humans emissions.

On a global scale, patterns of vegetation and climate are closely correlated. Vegetation absorbs CO 2 and this can buffer some of the effects of global warming. On the other hand, desertification amplifies global warming through the release of CO 2 because of the decrease in vegetation cover.

A decrease in vegetation cover, via deforestation for example, tends to increase local albedo, leading to surface cooling. Albedo refers to how much light a surface reflects rather than absorbs. Generally, dark surfaces have a low albedo and light surfaces have a high albedo. Ice with snow has a high albedo and reflects around 90 per cent of incoming solar radiation. Land covered with dark-coloured vegetation is likely to have a low albedo and will absorb most of the radiation.

Nowadays, most of what is on the Earth stays on the Earth; very little material is added by meteorites and cosmic dust. Large impacts like Chicxulub can cause a range of effects that include dust and aerosols being ejected high into the atmosphere that prevent sunlight from reaching the Earth. These materials insulate the Earth from solar radiation and cause global temperatures to fall; the effects can last for a few years. A change in any one of these can lead to additional and enhanced or reduced changes in the others.

For example, we understand that the oceans can take CO 2 out of the atmosphere: when the quantity of CO 2 in the atmosphere increases, the temperature of the Earth rises. This in turn would contribute to a warming of the oceans. Warm oceans are less able to absorb CO 2 than cold ones, so as the temperature rises, the oceans release more CO 2 into the atmosphere, which in turn causes the temperature to rise again. A positive feedback accelerates a temperature rise, whereas a negative feedback slows it down.

Discovering Geology introduces a range of geoscience topics to school-age students and learners of all ages. Climate is the pattern of weather of an area averaged over many years. We can only show whether climate change has occurred after decades of careful measurements and analysis. The scientists studied monsoon records in India for the past 10 million years and linked it to the motion of the tectonic plates, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

Of course, the seismic shifts didn't happen overnight, it took millions of years to change the direction of plates. Still, tectonic plates move very slowly All this study showed was that plate movement occurs on a feedback mechanism: It's not all one-sided after all.

In India, more rain made the plates move faster. But remember, the change happened slowly - at about one centimeter per year.

You might be thinking you already knew this, but this finding is counter-intuitive. First of all, we knew that plate movement can create new mountains and affect ocean basins. But now, researchers are finding out that it can work the other way too. Climate change can cause seismic shifts - and possibly make some regions more likely to have large earthquakes than others. There have been times in the history of Earth that midocean ridge volcanism was very active, producing huge quantities of magma and C02 gas, and other times when the volcanism is relatively inactive.

The large quantities of magma and volcanism involved in this process have ensured that variations in midocean ridge magma production have exerted strong controls on the amount of C02 in the atmosphere and ocean, and thus, are closely linked with climate. Periods of voluminous magma production are correlated with times of high atmospheric Co2, and globally warm periods.

These times are also associated with times of high sea levels, since the extra volcanic and hot oceanic material on the seafloor takes up extra volume and displaces the seawater to rise higher over the continents. This rise in sea levels in turn buried many rocks that are then taken out of the chemical weathering system, slowing down reactions between the atmosphere and the weathering of rocks.

Those reactions are responsible for removing large quantities of Co2 from the atmosphere, so the rise in sea level further promotes global warming during periods of active seafloor volcanism. Convergent boundaries are places where two plates are moving toward each other or colliding.