What is the relationship of convection in plate tectonics?

What is the relationship of convection in plate tectonics?

Convection currents drive the movement of Earth’s rigid tectonic plates in the planet’s fluid molten mantle. In places where convection currents rise up towards the crust’s surface, tectonic plates move away from each other in a process known as seafloor spreading (Fig. 7.21).

What are convection currents and what causes them?

Convection currents are the result of differential heating. Lighter (less dense), warm material rises while heavier (more dense) cool material sinks. It is this movement that creates circulation patterns known as convection currents in the atmosphere, in water, and in the mantle of Earth.

Why are convection cells important?

A convection cell is most notable in the formation of clouds with its release and transportation of energy. As air moves along the ground it absorbs heat, loses density and moves up into the atmosphere.

How does wind form use a convection cell to explain it?

Air Pressure and Winds Within the troposphere are convection cells (Figure below). Warm air rises, creating a low pressure zone; cool air sinks, creating a high pressure zone. Air that moves horizontally between high and low pressure zones makes wind.

What is the difference between a convection current and a convection cell?

Because particles within a solid are fixed in place, convection currents are seen only in gases and liquids. A temperature difference leads to an energy transfer from an area of higher energy to one of lower energy. The cell formed by convection currents is called a convection cell or Bénard cell.

What is convection in relation to weather?

Convection. Generally, transport of heat and moisture by the movement of a fluid. In meteorology, the term is used specifically to describe vertical transport of heat and moisture in the atmosphere, especially by updrafts and downdrafts in an unstable atmosphere.