Theory of Plate Tectonics
From GeoClasses
All of the observations about the shapes of the continents, the locations of mountain ranges and oceanic trenches, and more, can be explained by the theory of plate tectonics.
The theory
The surface of the Earth is made up of large plates, which move as coherent blocks across the surface of the Earth, floating on the hotter rocks beneath them. It is at the edges of these plates that most interesting things (like mountain building or rifting) happen because of the relative motions of the plates.
- "The theory of plate tectonics states that the Earth's outermost layer is fragmented into a dozen or more large and small plates that are moving relative to one another as they ride atop hotter, more mobile material."
You can observe the South American plate and the African plate, which are moving apart. Their boundary is in the center of the Atlantic ocean at the mid-ocean ridge
What drives plate tectonics
The plates are moved by convection in the Earth's mantle.
What is convection?
What drives the mantle convection?
- Heat generated by
- Radioactivity in the Earth's interior.
- Latent heat from solidification of the inner core.
Remember what The Interior of the Earth looks like
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