|
|
|
Plate Tectonics : Plates On The Move
Plates 'float' on the molten rock magma. As the core of the Earth heats up the materials inside, the molten magma also gets heated up. The heat causes convection currents, a movement of rising and sinking caused by heat, inside the molten magma. This is like the convection currents which you get when you heat a beaker of water. The magma will rise and spread out across the surfance, then cools and sinks, dragging along the plates 'attached' to it at intervals, causing Plate Tectonics. As the Earth is spherical, and convection currents occur in all parts of the mantle, plates dragged away from one side will also collide on the other side. This leads to the different types of plate movements all over the Earth's surface.
There Are Basically Three Types Of Plate Movements: |