"Why do the tectonic plates move?"
After a long journey by ship, some people are very happy when they feel solid ground under their feet again. But the tectonic plates on which we move are not as solid as we initially assume. On the contrary - the plates are constantly in motion. In this article you will find out how these behave and what consequences this has for us.
The structure of the earth
In order to understand the movements of the earth's plates, one must first of all know how our earth is structured.
- Like an onion, our planet has several layers. The outer shell on which we move is called the earth's crust. This together with the litusphere mantle forms the litus sphere. The litus sphere is divided into seven so-called litus sphere plates.
- These move on the asthenosphere, which forms the outer part of the earth's mantle. The core of the earth forms the interior of our planet. Temperatures of up to 2900 ° C and an unbelievable pressure of four million bar prevail here. Scientists suspect that the earth's core consists of a massive iron ball and that this is also the cause of our planetary magnetic field.
An explanation for the tectonic plate movement
- The litosphere plates virtually float on the more fluid asthenosphere and are constantly in motion. The tectonic plates move only a few centimeters a year, but the consequences of this movement are very noticeable for us humans. However, these will be discussed later.
- The exact cause of the dynamics of the plates is still not exactly known to this day. However, it is assumed that convection currents between the earth's core and the earth's mantle set the earth's plates in motion. Convection currents arise when heated material rises from the earth's core, cools down again in the earth's mantle and then sinks back towards the earth's core, where it is heated up again.
Earth plates - learn names correctly
Plate tectonics is a very interesting field of knowledge. When the children in the ...
The different types of movement of the earth plates
The tectonic plates relate to one another in four different ways. One distinguishes between:
- Divergent plate boundaries. Here two litosphere plates move away from each other, with hot lava emerging in the border area and solidifying on the surface. This creates new earth crust.
- Convergent plate boundaries. When converging, two plates collide. When a continental plate collides with an oceanic plate, the heavier oceanic plate is submerged under the continental plate. The volcanologist calls the places where this happens subduction zones. Volcanic activity often occurs at subduction zones, as the sinking plate in the earth's mantle partially melts, creating magma, which then rises to the top and returns to volcanoes exit. If two light continantal slabs collide, they push each other upwards, creating a mountain range. This is called orogenesis.
- Conservative plate boundaries: At this boundary, two tectonic plates scratch past each other. Here it can happen that the earth plates wedge themselves and suddenly loosen again. If this happens, an earthquake / seaquake is the result.
- Passive plate boundaries: One speaks of passive plate boundaries when two litusphere plates adjoin each other, but no acute movements can be measured at the moment.
How helpful do you find this article?
