Bipedalism

Plate Tectonics


What Plate Tectonics are?
A tectonic plate is a massive, irregularly shaped solid rock, generally made of both continental and oceanic plates.Plate size can vary greatly, from a few hundred to thousands of kilometers across; the Pacific and Antarctic Plates are among the largest. Plate thickness also variesgreatly, ranging from less than 15 km for young oceanic lithosphere to about 200 km or more for ancient continental plate.

Cause of Plate Tectonics:
Covenction Currents inthe Mantle. The mantle of the earth circulates much like water boiling in a pot. Where the mantle is rising, the plates are torn apart (divergent). Where the mantle issinking, the plates are pulled together and subducted (convergent).

Types of Tectonic Plates:
Convergent Borders: They are oceanic - continental. The oceanic plate ismore dense and then subducts. A mountain rage is created.
It also can be oceanic - oceanic, where the denser plate subducts.
And the last option is continental -continental. Where neither of the plates are subducted. Crust buckles and is pushed upwards and sidways. It forms mountain ranges.
It is when two plates move towards each otherand collide. As the plate collide, some crust is destroyed due to the impact. Therefore this convergent boundary is also called destructive boundary.



DivergentBoundaries: New crust is created, two or more plates pull away from each other. Oceans are born.
A divergent plate movement occurs when two plates move away from eachother. Magma from the mantle underneath the crust to rise up the surface to cool and solidify at the plate boundary. This is considered constructive since new crust is formed.