PLATE TECTONICS THEORY

Plate Tectonics Theory

Plate Tectonics Theory

Introduction

Plate tectonics is a theory geological explaining how it is structured the lithosphere (the outer portion of more cold and rigid Earth). The theory gives an explanation of the tectonic plates that form the surface of the Earth and seen shifts between them in their movement on the mantle fluid, their addresses and interactions. It also explains the formation of mountain ranges (orogenesis). It also gives a satisfactory explanation of why earthquakes and volcanoes are concentrated in specific regions of the planet (as the Pacific Ring of Fire) or why large trenches are near islands and continents and not in the center the ocean.

Discussion

Tectonic plates move relative to each other with velocities of 2.5 cm / year [1] which is about the speed with which grow nails of the hands. Since moving over the finite area of the Earth, the plates interact with each other along their borders or boundaries causing intense deformation in the crust and lithosphere of the Earth, which has led to the formation of large mountain ranges (verbigracia the Andes and Alps) and large fault systems associated with them (for example, the system of San Andreas fault). Frictional contact between the edges of the plates is responsible for the majority of earthquakes. Other phenomena are associated with the creation of volcanoes (especially noticeable in the Ring of Fire Pacific Ocean) and oceanic trenches (George, 2003).

Tectonic plates consist of two different types of lithosphere : continental crust, thicker, and the oceanic crust, which is relatively thin. The top of the lithosphere is called the crust, again of two types (continental and oceanic). This means that a lithospheric plate can be a continental plate, an ocean, or both, if so called mixed plaque.

One of the main points of the theory proposes that the ...