Convection and Plate

mantle have beenTectonics

Data gathered from earthquake waves in the upper
interpreted to mean that the area is in
a state of partial melting, or close to its melting point.
This characteristic is very important in understanding the
processes occurring in the upper mantle. The theories of
continental drift and plate tectonics are based on the
hypothesis of convection currents in the mantle.
The convection in the mantle is similar to that seen in a
pot of soup on a stove: as the soup at the bottom is
heated it expands, becomes less dense, & rises to the
top. Thus, convection currents occur only in materials
that flow.
It is believed that the extremely high temperature in this
layer makes flow possible. But the pressure of the crust
and the mantle's own mass considerably slows down the
flow. The mantle is perhaps best described as semi-
plastic substance which yields & flow under long stresses
but behaves like a solid when subjected to a sudden
great force such as that which causes an earthquake.
Arthur Holmes - an English geologist, was the first to
suggest back in 1929, that the flow within the mantle
wells up in the middle of a continental mass & parts to
the sides, splitting the continent, & setting the two halves
drifting apart. He maintained that it is this flow due to
convection that provides the driving mechanism for
continental drift.