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Deux îles : l'Islande et Surtsey

THE CONTINENTAL DRIFT

Scientists believe that 200 million years ago the earth's continents were joined together to form one supercontinent named  Pangaea

The supercontinent broke up and rock plates began to move apart. This is the continental drift.

-200Myears break up now

It is far from over. Geologists predict that in 250 million years the earth's continents will be merged again into one giant mass land just as they were million years ago.                          They call it :    Pangaea ultima

ICELAND

When the continental drift began ,the north and south American plates in the west, the European and African plates in the east moved apart and the Atlantic Ocean appeared. It is growing at a rate of about 5-10 cm per year.

between these plates the earth has a deep hole along the ocean floor:the RIFT     As the rift widens hot material of the earth rises forming a mountain range :  the mid atlantic ridge. It is mostly under water but the highest peaks extend above the surface of the sea to form islands..

One of these islands is Iceland .    The rift runs across Iceland which widens the island is half American and half European. When you walk along this path the north American plate is on one side and the European one on the other side .

Because of its geographic location Iceland has extensive volcanic and geothermal activity geyservolcano, hot water.

SURTSEY

On November 14th 1963 at 07.15 an eruptive ash cloud came right up from the mid atlantic ridge,33km south of Iceland.at 15.00 this cloud reached the height of 6,000m. It was still a submarine eruption but the very night after a new island was born: Surtseythe eruption ended in June 1967. Surtsey maximal size  was 2.7km² since then wind and wave erosion have seen the island diminish. The surface area is now 1.4km²

The settlement of life

Surtsey is an outstanding laboratory for research. It was declared nature reserve in 1965, so the natural evolutionary processes have been able to act without any kind of human impact. The first life to appear was moss and lichen.then came plants, bushes and insects. As the vegetation improved birds began nesting.the first puffin nest was found in 2004.

The island will get smaller but it will probably persist for many centuries before being eroded completely .In the future it will perhaps be only a rock in the sea unless volcanic activity resumes.                      

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1. When did the continental drift begin ? 200 million years ago2 million years ago20 million years agoJe ne sais pas

2. How is Iceland evolving ? it gets narrowerit remains as it isit widensJe ne sais pas

3. Where do you think the Iceland 's volcanoes are located ? near the seaeverywhere on the islandalong the riftJe ne sais pas

4. How long did the eruption last ? 3.5 years2.5 years5 yearsJe ne sais pas

5. Which kind of life appeared first on Surtsey ? birdinsectmossJe ne sais pas

6. Since Surtsey was born what has happened to its surface area ? it has doubledit has lost a third of its sizeit has lost half of its sizeJe ne sais pas

7. When will Surtsey disappear ? in 2 hundred yearsin 5 hundred yearswe don't knowJe ne sais pas