Worlds major plates expedition By Nikolina Tectonic Plates

World's major plates expedition By Nikolina

Tectonic Plates at our planets surface move because of the intense heat in the earths core that causes molten rock in the mantle layer to move. It moves in a pattern called convention cells that forms from warm material rises, cools and eventually sinks down. As the cooled material sinks down, it is warmed and rised again.

Rate and Direction of Movement of Plates. African 2. 15 cm per year Antarctic 2. 05 cm per year Eurasian 2 cm per year Indo-Australian 5. 6 cm per year North american 1. 15 cm per year South american 1. 45 cm per year

Direction of The Plates

Depression Formed in the Areas Between continents Prior to the Challenger Expedition, the view of the Ocean Basins has become known as the bathtub view. That is, the center of the ocean basins is the deepest area, and it is shallower at the margins or edges. But when the Challenger discovered the mountains in the mid-Atlantic, that view was abandoned and modified to basins with the deepest areas around the edges - closer to the continents.

Oceanic and Continental plates When continental plates collide thinner and more dense oceanic plate is overridden by the thicker and less dense continental plate.

A Visit to a Volcano A convergent boundary, also known as a destructive plate boundary (because of seduction), is an actively deforming region where two (or more) tectonic plates or fragments of the lithosphere move toward one another and collide.

A Visit to a Region of Seafloor Spreading “divergent boundaries in the middle of the oceans cause seafloor spreading. As the oceanic plates move apart they produce cracks in the ocean floor. Magma rises up from the mantle and oozes out from the cracks like a long, thin undersea volcano. This magma cools to form a new crust of igneous rock. Overtime the cooling magma piles up to form a raised ridge called a mid-ocean ridge. ”

Major Fault Along a Transform As the plates grind past each other, the jagged edges strike each other, and stick, “locking” the plates in place for a time. Because the plates are locked together without moving, a lot of stress builds up at the fault line. This stress is released in a quick bursts when the plates suddenly slip into new positions. The sudden movement is what we feel as the shaking and trembling of an earthquake.