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What is Plate Tectonics?
• Remember what a theory was?– A scientific Theory is a well tested concept
that explains many observations.• So, the Theory of Plate Tectonics is …
– Pieces of the Earth’s Lithosphere are in slow, constant motion, driven by convection currents in the mantle.
What is a plate?
• A plate is a section of the lithosphere that slowly moves over the asthenosphere, carrying pieces of oceanic and continental crust.
Plate Boundaries
• The Earth is broken up into many plates
• So, the plates meet at areas called boundaries
• Plate Boundaries: Where edges of world’s plates meet.
• 3 types– Divergent, Convergent, and Transform
Divergent Boundary
• Divergent Boundary: Place where two plates move apart or diverge.
• Ocean = Mid Ocean Ridge• Land = Rift Valley
Convergent Boundary
• Convergent Boundary: Place where two plates come together or converge and collide.
• Remember Subduction?
Transform Boundary
• Transform Boundary: Place where two plates slip past each other moving in opposite directions.
• Earthquakes occur but no crust is destroyed