How did the continental drift theory help us in understanding tectonics?
Wegener suggested that perhaps the rotation of the Earth caused the continents to shift towards and apart from each other. (It doesn’t.) Today, we know that the continents rest on massive slabs of rock called tectonic plates. The plates are always moving and interacting in a process called plate tectonics.
Why is the theory of plate tectonics important?
Plate tectonics explains why and where earthquakes occur. This makes it possible to make predictions about earthquakes. Plate tectonics explains why and where mountains are formed. This makes Plate tectonics important to the study of geology.
How do plate tectonics relate to continental drift?
Plate tectonics is Wegener theory of continental drift reworked. The force needed to move the continents is proposed to be convection currents in the mantle. The continents are seen as part of large plates of crust that are moved by the convection currents in the mantle.
What are the three types of tectonic plates Class 9?
Three types of tectonic plate movements are as follows :
- Converging When two plates move towards each other.
- Diverging When two plates move away from each other.
- Transformational When two plates horizontally past each other.
What is the evidence that supports the theory of plate tectonics?
Evidence from fossils, glaciers, and complementary coastlines helps reveal how the plates once fit together. Fossils tell us when and where plants and animals once existed. This distribution of fossils led to theories that the southern continents were once joined in a supercontinent called Gondwana.
Who gave the theory of plate tectonics?
meteorologist Alfred Wegener
What was Arthur Holmes theory?
Holmes primary contribution was his proposed theory that convection occurred within the Earth’s mantle, which explained the push and pull of continent plates together and apart. He also assisted scientists in oceanographic research in the 1950s, which publicized the phenomenon known as sea floor spreading.
How tectonic plates are formed?
The plates — interlocking slabs of crust that float on Earth’s viscous upper mantle — were created by a process similar to the subduction seen today when one plate dives below another, the report says. Other researchers have estimated that a global tectonic plate system emerged around 3 billion years ago.