What are the two main factors of tectonic plates movement?
The forces that drive Plate Tectonics include:
- Convection in the Mantle (heat driven)
- Ridge push (gravitational force at the spreading ridges)
- Slab pull (gravitational force in subduction zones)
What new information led to the theory of plate tectonics?
When the concept of seafloor spreading came along, scientists recognized that it was the mechanism to explain how continents could move around Earth’s surface. Like the scientists before us, we will now merge the ideas of continental drift and seafloor spreading into the theory of plate tectonics.
What is the evidence for plate tectonics?
Modern continents hold clues to their distant past. 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.
Who postulated the concept of plate tectonics?
Alfred Wegener
How many tectonic plates are there?
seven
Which plate do we live on?
lithosphere
How fast do tectonic plates move?
They move at a rate of one to two inches (three to five centimeters) per year.
How thick are tectonic plates?
125km thick
Which is the biggest tectonic plate?
Pacific
What are the 12 major tectonic plates?
There may be scientific consensus as to whether such plates should be considered distinct portions of the crust; thus, new research could change this list.
- African Plate.
- Antarctic Plate.
- Australian Plate.
- Caribbean Plate.
- Cocos Plate.
- Eurasian Plate.
- Nazca Plate.
- North American Plate.
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.
What is the main cause of plate tectonics?
Geologists have hypothesized that the movement of tectonic plates is related to convection currents in the earth’s mantle. Tremendous heat and pressure within the earth cause the hot magma to flow in convection currents. These currents cause the movement of the tectonic plates that make up the earth’s crust.
How are tectonic plates destroyed?
Magma rises into and through the other plate, solidifying into granite, the rock that makes up the continents. Thus, at convergent boundaries, continental crust is created and oceanic crust is destroyed. Two plates sliding past each other forms a transform plate boundary.
What are the 2 tectonic plates called?
There are two main types of tectonic plates: oceanic and continental.
What are the 2 types of tectonic plates differentiate?
The two types of tectonic plates are continental and oceanic tectonic plates.
What are 5 landforms caused by plate movement?
They include mountains, plateaus, and rift valleys. Whereas erosion shapes landforms, their origins lie in tectonic processes that build the major structures of the Earth.
What happens when two tectonic plates converge?
If two tectonic plates collide, they form a convergent plate boundary. Usually, one of the converging plates will move beneath the other, a process known as subduction. The new magma (molten rock) rises and may erupt violently to form volcanoes, often building arcs of islands along the convergent boundary.
Which plate is thicker continental or oceanic?
Continental plates are much thicker that Oceanic plates. At the convergent boundaries the continental plates are pushed upward and gain thickness. The rocks and geological layers are much older on continental plates than in the oceanic plates. The Continental plates are much less dense than the Oceanic plates.
What is the connection between the continental plate and oceanic plate?
When continental and oceanic plates collide, the thinner and more dense oceanic plate is overridden by the thicker and less dense continental plate. The oceanic plate is forced down into the mantle in a process known as “subduction.” As the oceanic plate descends, it is forced into higher temperature environments.
Which crust is thicker?
continental crust
What are characteristics of oceanic plates?
Oceanic plates are mafic in nature, composed of basalt rock and its coarse-grained equivalent, gabbro, both rich in iron, magnesium and calcium. In contrast, continental plates are felsic in nature, dominated by granitic rock with its abundant silica, aluminum, sodium and potassium.
What are the 2 oceanic plates?
An example of an oceanic plate is the Pacific Plate, which extends from the East Pacific Rise to the deep-sea trenches bordering the western part of the Pacific basin. A continental plate is exemplified by the North American Plate, which includes North America as well as the oceanic crust…
What is the importance of seafloor spreading?
Today it refers to the processes creating new oceanic lithosphere where plates move apart. Seafloor spreading replaces the lithosphere destroyed by subduction, and exerts important influences on Earth’s chemical and biological evolution.
What is it called when two oceanic plates move apart and new crust is formed?
Divergent boundaries occur along spreading centers where plates are moving apart and new crust is created by magma pushing up from the mantle. Picture two giant conveyor belts, facing each other but slowly moving in opposite directions as they transport newly formed oceanic crust away from the ridge crest.
What did you notice with the space in between the two plates?
Answer: Explanation: Space is the bounderies of each plate and shows plate inclusion, separation and deviation.