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Plate tectonics explains how the Earth’s surface moves due to giant tectonic plates, causing geological events like earthquakes and volcanoes. There are three types of plate boundaries, and continents move at a rate of 4 inches per year. Plate tectonics is an advanced version of the early 1900s idea of continental drift, which was initially met with skepticism but is now widely accepted.
Tectonics, also known as plate tectonics, is the theoretical understanding of how the surface of the earth is constantly moving. According to the best understanding of science, giant tectonic plates are always moving very slowly as the Earth generates new crust and recovers old crust. The effect has often been compared to a giant conveyor belt. There are some places under the ocean where crust is being generated and these look like mountains, while other areas that look like trenches are where older segments of crust are being reclaimed. Understanding plate tectonics is generally used to explain many geological events on Earth, including earthquakes and volcanoes.
There are three main types of boundaries between the different plates around the Earth. Some are moving towards each other, some are moving away and some are moving sideways next to each other. At the edges of these boundaries, things like volcanoes and earthquakes are more common because the Earth moves, leaving openings for upwelling magma, and because motion between plates generates friction. Many of the border areas are located near the ocean coast, which is why these areas are often more subject to geological activity. Studies have shown that continents move at a rate roughly equivalent to 4 inches (about 10 cm) per year.
The whole idea of plate tectonics is a more advanced version of an idea developed in the early 1900s called continental drift. During that time, a scientist named Alfred Wegener decided to investigate some obvious facts that he found curious about the way the Earth was put together. There were some similarities between the edges of the continents where they seemed to have broken apart at some point. Wegener began examining the fossil record in these areas and found that there were striking similarities and thought they warranted further investigation. For example, he has found fossils of identical ancient plants and animals in areas separated by the ocean.
Wegener began to believe that continents moved very slowly across the Earth’s surface, and he even theorized that almost all land on Earth was once part of one giant continent. Wegener’s problem was that he couldn’t explain how it was happening, and other scientists were very skeptical. In 1929, a scientist named Arthur Holmes came up with the basic idea for the currently accepted mechanism, but most scientists didn’t really adopt the theory until the 1960s. Since that time, much evidence has been gathered to support the theory, and it is widely considered a fact.
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