Plates

Plate tectonics (from the Greek word for "one who constructs and destroys", τεκτων, tektoon) is a theory of geology developed to explain the phenomenon of continental drift and is currently the theory accepted by the vast majority of scientists working in this area. more...

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In the theory of plate tectonics the outermost part of the Earth's interior is made up of two layers: the lithosphere comprising the crust and the solidified uppermost part of the mantle. Below the lithosphere lies the asthenosphere which comprises the inner viscous part of the mantle. The mantle behaves like a superheated and extremely viscous liquid.

The lithosphere essentially floats on the asthenosphere. The lithosphere is broken up into what are called tectonic plates. These plates move in relation to one another at one of three types of plate boundaries: convergent, divergent, and transform. Earthquakes, volcanic activity, mountain-building, and oceanic trench formation occur along plate boundaries.

Plate tectonic theory arose out of two separate geological observations: continental drift, noticed in the early 20th century, and seafloor spreading, noticed in the 1960s. The theory itself was developed during the late 1960s and has since been universally accepted by virtually all scientists. It has revolutionized the earth sciences, and is comparable in its unifying and explanatory power for diverse geological phenomena to the periodic table in chemistry, the genetic code in biology, and quantum mechanics in physics.

Key principles

The division of the Earth's interior into lithospheric and asthenospheric components is based on their mechanical differences. The lithosphere is cooler and more rigid, whilst the asthenosphere is hotter and mechanically weaker. This division should not be confused with the chemical subdivision of the Earth into (from innermost to outermost) core, mantle, and crust. The key principle of plate tectonics is that the lithosphere exists as separate and distinct tectonic plates, which float on the fluid-like (visco-elastic liquid) asthenosphere. The relative fluidity of the asthenosphere allows the tectonic plates to undergo motion in different directions.

One plate meets another along a plate boundary, and plate boundaries are commonly associated with geological events such as earthquakes and the creation of topographic features like mountains, volcanoes and oceanic trenches. The majority of the world's active volcanoes occur along plate boundaries, with the Pacific Plate's Ring of Fire being most active and famous. These boundaries are discussed in further detail below.

Tectonic plates can include continental crust or oceanic crust, and typically, a single plate carries both. For example, the African Plate includes the continent and parts of the floor of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The part of the tectonic plate which is common in all cases is the uppermost solid layer of the upper mantle which lays beneath both continental and oceanic crust and is considered, together with the crust, lithosphere.

Read more at Wikipedia.org