what causes the tectonic plates to move quizlet?
14403
Circular currents in the mantle caused by the magma being heated by the core off the Earth. The region where oceanic plates sink down into the asthenosphere. ... Describe how convection currents might be the cause of plate tectonics. They might be the cause because the movement of the plates pushes the plates to move.
168148
The asthenosphere underneath is hot and flexible, transferring some of its heat through convection. ... The plates ride on the asthenosphere, sometimes moving apart, sometimes past each other and other times moving together at plate boundaries.
1091573
Earth's tectonic plates are in constant motion. Their movement is driven by heat within the Earth.
847143
The movement of molten rock in the mantle causes convection currents which makes the plates move. The study of these plates is called plate tectonics. Most earthquakes and volcanoes eruptions take place at plate boundaries. The crust is solid and is the layer we live on.
727337
Tectonic plates cover the entire Earth and are like a shell that sits underneath the top layer of the ground. These plates sit on top of hot inner layers of the Earth, and they slowly move around on this melted layer. Think of it like ice cubes moving around on top of your glass of water.
90647
Seafloor spreading occurs at divergent plate boundaries. As tectonic plates slowly move away from each other, heat from the mantle's convection currents makes the crust more plastic and less dense. The less-dense material rises, often forming a mountain or elevated area of the seafloor. Eventually, the crust cracks.
177236
From the deepest ocean trench to the tallest mountain, plate tectonics explains the features and movement of Earth's surface in the present and the past. Plate tectonics is the theory that Earth's outer shell is divided into several plates that glide over the mantle, the rocky inner layer above the core.
455365
Wegener suggested that perhaps the rotation of the Earth caused the continents to shift towards and apart from each other. (It doesn't.) Today, we know that the continents rest on massive slabs of rock called tectonic plates. The plates are always moving and interacting in a process called plate tectonics.
1013632
Seafloor spreading helps explain continental drift in the theory of plate tectonics. When oceanic plates diverge, tensional stress causes fractures to occur in the lithosphere. ... At a spreading center, basaltic magma rises up the fractures and cools on the ocean floor to form new seabed.
148177
According to the theory of plate tectonics, Earth is an active planet. Its surface is composed of many individual plates that move and interact, constantly changing and reshaping Earth's outer layer. Volcanoes and earthquakes both result from the movement of tectonic plates.
540457
Plate tectonics is the theory that Earth's outer shell is divided into several plates that glide over the mantle, the rocky inner layer above the core. The plates act like a hard and rigid shell compared to Earth's mantle.
490146
A tectonic plate (also called lithospheric plate) is a massive, irregularly shaped slab of solid rock, generally composed of both continental and oceanic lithosphere. Plate size can vary greatly, from a few hundred to thousands of kilometers across; the Pacific and Antarctic Plates are among the largest.
121614
When oceanic or continental plates slide past each other in opposite directions, or move in the same direction but at different speeds, a transform fault boundary is formed. No new crust is created or subducted, and no volcanoes form, but earthquakes occur along the fault.
1225470
Convection currents drive the movement of Earth's rigid tectonic plates in the planet's fluid molten mantle. In places where convection currents rise up towards the crust's surface, tectonic plates move away from each other in a process known as seafloor spreading (Fig.
1014881
Shifting plates and rising water The sudden movement of the Pacific tectonic plate under the North American plate caused a massive earthquake and a tsunami.
410793
Where plate pull apart, slide by each other or collide, there is tectonic activity manifested as earthquakes. The great majority of seismicity on the planet occurs at plate boundaries, although intra-plate seismicity can occur as well when stresses build up in the plate.
854883
Answer and Explanation: The two types of tectonic plates are continental and oceanic tectonic plates.