HOW DO PLATE TECTONICS WORK?

Tectonic plates are large plates of rock that make up the foundation of the earth's crust and the
shape of the continents. The tectonic plates comprise the bottom of the crust and the top of the
earth's mantle. There are ten major plates on the earth like the African plate or the Eurasian
plate and many more minor ones like the cocos plate or the nazca plate. They float on a
plastic-like part of the earth's mantle called the asthenosphere. The plates are most famously
known for being the source of earthquakes.
The tectonic plates are about 100 km (60 miles) in thickness, with continental plates tending
to be thicker than oceanic ones. The composure of the two types of plate is also quite
different. Oceanic plates consist of thicker basaltic rocks, compressed by the pressure of
kilometers of water. Contintental plates have a lower average density, containing granitic
rocks with a heavy composition of aluminum and silica.
The mantle underneath the tectonic plates is constantly recirculating, causing the
plates to float around slowly in a process called tectonic drift. This process was
described well by the theory of plate tectonics, which solved several scientific
dilemmas about the distribution of species when it was introduced. When plates
push up against each other, they create mountain ranges and volcanoes.
THE TECTONICS PLATES

Over time, plate tectonics has caused the world's continents to be reshaped.
Every continent on earth was once part of an ancient supercontinent known as
Pangaea, and Antarctica was once located in a temperate climate. Marine fossils
can be found on the peaks of the world's tallest mountains. The tectonic plates
continue to move slowly, but it is unlikely that their movement will cause the
world's face to change more rapidly than the growing technological influence of
mankind will. One day the plates' great momentum and pressure might even be
used as a source of geological energy.
pangea

This phenomen was name the seafloor spreading.

Sea floor Spreading
Sea-floor spreading is the process in which the ocean floor is extended when two
plates move apart. As the plates move apart,
the rocks break and form a crack between the
plates. Earthquakes occur along the plate
boundary. Magma rises through the cracks
and seeps out onto the ocean floor like a long,
thin, undersea volcano. As magma meets the
water, it cools and solidifies, adding to the
edges of the sideways-moving plates. As
magma piles up along the crack, a long chain
of mountains forms gradually on the ocean
floor. This chain is called an oceanic ridge.
The boundaries where the plates move apart
are 'constructive' because new crust is being
formed and added to the ocean floor. The
ocean floor gradually extends and thus the size of these plates increases. As
these plates get bigger, others become smaller as they melt back into the Earth
in the process called subduction.

There are three main types of tectonic plate boundaries, described in terms of the way that
tectonic plates move relative to each other. These include transform boundaries, where plates
grind parallel to each other, divergent boundaries, where plates are moving apart, and
convergent boundaries, where plates press into and sometimes under each other. These plate
boundaries result in faults, rift valleys, oceanic ridges, oceanic trenches, mountains, island
arcs, subduction zones, volcanoes, and other geologic phenomena
.Plates can move apart - If two plates are moving apart from each other, hot,
molten rock flows up from the layers of mantle below the lithosphere.
This magma comes out on the surface (mostly at the bottom of the ocean),
where it is called lava. As the lava cools, it hardens to form new lithosphere
material, filling in the gap. This is called a divergent plate boundary.

A DIVERGENT BOUNDARY

Plates can push together - If the two plates are moving toward each other,
one plate typically pushes under the other one. This subducting plate sinks
into the lower mantle layers, where it melts. At some boundaries where two
plates meet, neither plate is in a position to subduct under the other, so they
both push against each other to form mountains. The lines where plates push
toward each other are called convergent plate boundaries.

A CONVERGENT BOUNDARIE

Plates slide against each other - At other boundaries, plates simply slide by
each other -- one moves north and one moves south, for example. While the
plates don't drift directly into each other at these transform boundaries, they
are pushed tightly together. A great deal of tension builds at the boundary.
 A TRANSFORM BOUNDAR Y

The major plates group together 8 plates:

- African Plate
- Antarctic Plate
- Indian Plate
- Australian Plate
- Eurasian Plate
- North American Plate
- South American Plate
- Pacific Plate

The minor plates group together 7 plates:

- Arabian Plate
- Caribbean Plate
- Juan de Fuca Plate
- Cocos Plate
- Nazca Plate
- Philippine Sea Plate
- Scotia Plate

Geologists believe that tectonic plates move from gravity. Since the plates are denser than the
asthenosphere, they move. there weight causes them to slide down and go by the lower subduction
zones. When the plate pushes against each other it causes plate movements. They plates do not
move quickly, in fact they move as fast as your fingernail grows. That averages around two inches a
year.
We can see the pangaea who is the supercontinent that form the earth 150 million years ago
 The second picture shows the earth fifty million years ago.

The last picture shows the earth today.

You can see how much the earth changed over the millions of years.

The major plates group together 8 plates:

- African Plate
- Antarctic Plate
- Indian Plate
- Australian Plate
- Eurasian Plate
- North American Plate
- South American Plate
- Pacific Plate

The minor plates group together 7 plates:

- Arabian Plate
- Caribbean Plate
- Juan de Fuca Plate
- Cocos Plate
- Nazca Plate
- Philippine Sea Plate
- Scotia Plate

THE PLATES TECTONICS