NAME: SAHIR SYED ALI
ID: 13285
EARTH SYSTEM CONCEPT
PLATE TECTONIC
PLATE TECTONICS:
From the deepest ocean trench to the tallest mountain, plate tectonics
explains the features and movement of Earth's surface in the present and the
past.
Plate tectonics is the theory that Earth's outer shell is divided into several
plates that glide over the mantle, the rocky inner layer above the core. The
plates act like a hard and rigid shell compared to Earth's mantle. This strong
outer layer is called the lithosphere, which is 100 km (60 miles) thick,
according to Encyclopedia Britannica. The lithosphere includes the crust and
outer part of the mantle. Below the lithosphere is the asthenosphere, which is
malleable or partially malleable, allowing the lithosphere to move around.
How it moves around is an evolving idea.
HOW PLATE TECTONIC WORKS:
The driving force behind plate tectonics is convection in the mantle. Hot
material near the Earth's core rises, and colder mantle rock sinks. "It's kind
of like a pot boiling on a stove," Van der Elst said. The convection drive
plates tectonics through a combination of pushing and spreading apart at
mid-ocean ridges and pulling and sinking downward at subduction zones,
researchers think. Scientists continue to study and debate the mechanisms
that move the plates.
Mid-ocean ridges are gaps between tectonic plates that mantle the Earth like
seams on a baseball. Hot magma wells up at the ridges, forming new ocean
crust and shoving the plates apart. At subduction zones, two tectonic plates
meet and one slides beneath the other back into the mantle, the layer
underneath the crust. The cold, sinking plate pulls the crust behind it
downward.
HOW MANY PLATES ARE THERE:
There are nine major plates, according to World Atlas. These plates are
named after the landforms found on them. The nine major plates are North
American, Pacific, Eurasian, African, Indo-Australian, Australian, Indian,
South American and Antarctic.
The largest plate is the Pacific Plate at 39,768,522 square miles
(103,000,000 square kilometers). Most of it is located under the ocean. It is
moving northwest at a speed of around 2.75 inches (7 cm) per year.
There are also many smaller plates throughout the world.
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.
HOW PLATE MOVE:
If seafloor spreading drives the plates, what drives seafloor spreading?
1. Hot mantle from the two adjacent cells rises at the ridge axis, creating
new ocean crust.
2. The top limb of the convection cell moves horizontally away from the
ridge crest, as does the new seafloor.
3. The outer limbs of the convection cells plunge down into the deeper
mantle, dragging oceanic crust as well. This takes place at the deep
sea trenches.
4. The material sinks to the core and moves horizontally.
5. The material heats up and reaches the zone where it rises again.
REFERENCE:
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-geology/chapter/outcome-theory-of-plate-
tectonics/
https://www.britannica.com/science/plate-tectonics
https://www.livescience.com/37706-what-is-plate-tectonics.html
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/cosmology-and-astronomy/earth-history-
topic/plate-techtonics/v/plate-tectonics-evidence-of-plate-movement?
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