Continental Accretion
Accretion is a process by which material is added to a tectonic plate or a landmass. This material may be sediment, volcanic arcs, seamounts or other igneous features, or blocks or pieces of continental crust split from other continental plates. Over "geologic time" (measured in millions of years), volcanic arcs form and may be crushed onto (or between) colliding continents with plate boundaries. Pieces of continental land masses may be ripped away and carried to other locations. For instance, Baja California and parts of southern California west of the San Andreas Fault are being ripped away from the North American continent and are slowly being carried northward. These rocks may eventually pass what-is-now San Francisco, and perhaps 70 to 100 million years from now will be crushed and accreted into the landmass currently known as Alaska!Plate tectonics model: Subduction introduces oceanic crustal rocks (including sediments) back into the Asthenosphere. Water and gas helps low-temperature minerals to melt and rise as, forming new continental crust (less dense than oceanic crust). Floating on the Asthenosphere, the continental crustal materials accumulate, forming continents.
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| Plate Tectonic Model Photo Courtesy: Phil Stoffer The processes associated with subduction lead to the accretion (growth) of continents over time. As ocean crust is recycled back into the upper mantle, the lighter material "accumulates" along continental margins. Pieces of lithosphere are sometimes scraped off one plate and crushed onto and added to another plate. |
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| refining Photo Courtesy: Phil Stoffer |
