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The an easy idea behind key tectonics is the there are eight significant plates ~ above the surface of the Earth. Over there are additionally bunches of minor plates. The bowl are like the skin of the planet. Lock constantly move roughly the planet. As soon as we speak constantly moving, we"re talking centimeters every year. You couldn"t sit down and watch the happen. Or have the right to you? You might watch it happen if girlfriend watched an earthquake.They really Float?These plates consist of the top layer that the Earth called the lithosphere. Straight under that layer is the asthenosphere. It"s a flowing area that molten rock. There is continuous heat and also radiation offered off from the center of the Earth. That energy is what continually heats the rocks and melts them. The tectonic plates space floating on top of the molten rock and moving roughly the planet. Think that it as ice floating in ~ the height of your soda. When the continents and also plates relocate it"s referred to as continental drift.
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Think the the molten absent in the asthenosphere, no as rock, however as a liquid. It has actually currents and it flows simply like any kind of other liquid. When the floating plates spread out apart, it"s dubbed a spreading center. When they are relocating together, it"s dubbed a subduction zone. When they are compelled together, it is referred to as a zone of convergence. One of the plates generally moves under the various other in a zone of convergence. Together the plate moves down into the asthenosphere it starts to melt. The location where they meet has a cracked or a trench. Several of the deepest parts of the seas are this trenches.Scientific Evidence
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How perform we ago up this ideas? Scientists have actually traveled all over the Earth and found proof that support the ideas of plate tectonics. First, castle looked at the continents. Ever an alert how Africa and South America look like they could fit together? scientists did. They reduced up a map, relocated the continent close together, and came up through a huge landmass referred to as Pangaea (one super-continent). Scientists also looked in ~ the fossils (long-dead animal bones and plants) ~ above the various continents. They uncovered that fossils top top Australia were comparable to the ones in southerly Asia. Castle think the very same plants when lived top top the continents, however when they separation apart, new plants developed. As soon as they to be digging, they additionally looked in ~ the types of rocks. The West coast of Africa has very similar rock formations come those ~ above the East coastline of south America. They space too comparable to it is in a coincidence.
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Fossils and also Plate Tectonics (NASA SciFiles Video)
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Useful reference MaterialsEncyclopedia.com (Plate Tectonics):http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/plate_tectonics.aspxWikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_tectonicsEncyclopædia Britannica:http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/463912/plate-tectonics


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