Earth's atmosphere is effected and regulated by many different factors.

Solar radiation
plays a role, as does the rotation of the Earth, among many other things. This
assignment will focus on the impact of tectonic plate movement. The tectonic
movement of the crust has a number of ways that it alters the behaviour of Earth's
atmosphere, each varying in severity and specific effect. Volcanism caused by tectonic
plate movement has a significant impact, as does the distribution of land mass above
sea level. The formation of mountain ranges can have localised impacts on climate,
and even the friction caused by the movement of the plates against the oceans can
have a small warming effect over long timescales. Here we will investigate each of
these effects in some detail as a supplement to the concept map. Beyond the scope of
this text is a treatment of the underlying causes of plate tectonics and landmass
formation. We will be focussing solely on the impact of plate tectonics on the
atmosphere, and assuming prior knowledge of the tectonic process itself.
Volcanism has possibly the most significant impact on the regulation of the
atmosphere. As landmass is subducted into the mantle, it takes with it carbon dioxide
(CO2) captured from the atmosphere. The CO2 is heated by the molten rock and
becomes unstable, eventually forcing its way back out to the surface through volcanic
eruptions. It releases itself into the atmosphere as a gas, rather than remaining trapped
in rocks. Along with this CO2 comes sulfur dioxide (SO2). SO2 reacts in the
atmosphere to form sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and leads to acid rain. This is a mostly
localised effect, but leads to the destruction of plant life, which in turn reduces the
removal of CO2 from the atmosphere.
The CO2 absorbs infra-red (IR) light leaving Earth and then emits it back toward the
ground. Were it left unchecked, it would cause a heating feedback loop. As can be
seen on Venus, large CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere can lead to a runaway
greenhouse effect and the conversion of a life supporting world into a totally hostile
one. (Note that there is not any evidence that Venus was ever life supporting).
Fortunately, another aspect of plate tectonics assists in removing the same CO2 that it
originally placed there through volcanism, thereby reducing global temperatures. That
aspect is the distribution of landmass caused by the motion of the plates.
During the Paleozoic era, the supercontinent of Pangaea kept large areas of land away
from water. The inland areas would have been extremely dry. This has several impacts
on the climate. The large arid area causes much more IR radiation to be emitted from
the ground, heating the atmosphere. It also prevents the formation of large forests to
remove CO2 from the atmosphere, as the central areas cannot get enough rainfall.
Another effect stems directly from the lack of rainfall in the central areas. Rain
absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere and a certain amount of the captured CO2 is stored
in rocks during the process of erosion. If there are less rocks being rained on, there is
less CO2 being removed from the atmosphere. After the breakup of Pangaea around
200 million years ago, the smaller individual landmasses allowed significantly more
rainfall on a greater proportion of the surface. This meant more trees, and more
rainfall erosion. This allowed CO2 to be rapidly removed from the atmosphere and
began the process of cooling. What happens next is a sort of "runaway cooling" effect.
As the global temperature drops, glaciers start to grow at high and low latitudes, and
the fact that there is more landmass now located at higher latitudes meant that glaciers
can grow directly over land which would have otherwise absorbed light and emitted

IR radiation, leading to heating. The glaciers have a high albedo, however, and reflect
most of the light directly back into space without converting it into IR. This leads to
further cooling, and more glaciers. The climate begins to shift from heating to
cooling. Eventually the glaciation gets to a point where so much water is trapped in
ice that the global rainfall drops significantly. The lack of rainfall leads to less trees
and less removal of CO2. Now virtually all CO2 being released by volcanoes is being
kept in the atmosphere, and the cooling process begins to slowly shift back to heating.
Thus occurs a natural heating/cooling cycle regulated by tectonic plate movement.
In addition to the direct impacts of plate tectonics described above, there is a
secondary effect caused by the formation and location of mountains and mountain
ranges. At high altitudes, mountain ranges have notable effects on the atmosphere,
which can lead to climate alterations lower down. At the high altitudes, mountains act
as a sort of "water tower", capturing atmospheric water and storing it in glaciers. As
was described above, less water in the atmosphere leads to less rain, and increased
CO2 levels. At the same time, the high albedo of the glaciers works to reflect light
away from Earth, assisting in cooling. This "water tower" effect causes a wet side and
a dry side at lower altitudes. The mountain acts as a barrier to atmospheric water,
causing it to collect on one side of the mountain, and leaving the other side relatively
arid. This is especially true in the case of mountain ranges, where the effect can
extend for hundreds of kilometres.
While all of this fairly overt heating and cooling is occurring thanks to volcanism and
the distribution of landmass, there are more subtle effects at play. Deep under the
oceans, where there is no sunlight and therefore no solar heating, plate tectonics (and
pressure) prevents the oceans from freezing solid. If the oceans had no way of being
heated from below, they would freeze over very quickly and the Earth would probably
never return to a heating cycle after its cooling. Fortunately, the oceans are heated by
two different tectonic effects. The first effect is direct heating caused by proximity to
the mantle. At the bottom of the ocean, the crust is thin enough that quite a lot of heat
is able to seep through from the mantle. This is especially true at 'weak spots' in the
crust. Hydrothermal vents can occur at volcanically active regions under the ocean,
especially where two plates are moving apart, creating a fissure through which
magma escapes and is instantly cooled by the ocean. This causes massive heating,
helping to regulate the ocean temperature which, in turn, regulates the atmospheric
temperature. A more subtle effect is the friction caused by the motion of the plates
under the ocean. Short term, the impact of this effect is negligible, but over extremely
long timescales (millions of years) the effect is noticeable and works to raise the mean
temperature of the oceans. Again, the heating of the oceans works to regulate
atmospheric temperature.
In conclusion, the process of plate tectonics has a variety of methods for regulating
the atmosphere, both on the global scale, and on a local scale. Volcanoes inject
greenhouse gasses and contaminants into the atmosphere which lead to heating, but
the distribution of landmass can help to curb the heating by allowing for the capture
of atmospheric carbon and the formation of glaciation over land. These two effects
lead to a cycle of heating and cooling. Meanwhile, mountain ranges have localised
impacts, along with some small measure of global impact, capturing atmospheric
water and altering rainfall patterns. And lastly, hydrothermal vents and tectonic
friction keep the oceans warm, preventing them from freezing, and helping to warm

the atmosphere during freezing cycles. Without plate tectonics, the Earth would have
few or no volcanoes, no way of producing and regulating greenhouse gasses, and no
way of maintaining an atmosphere conducive to life, and it would most likely be a
frozen icy rock.