Plate Tectonics - Continental Drift

Front

What is Plate Tectonics?

Back

The theory that explains the structure and movement of the Earth's lithosphere, which is divided into tectonic plates.

Front

What is Continental Drift?

Back

The hypothesis that continents have moved over geological time and were once joined together as a single landmass.

Front

What is Sea-Floor Spreading?

Back

The process by which new oceanic crust is formed at mid-ocean ridges and older crust moves away from the ridge.

Front

What is the Lithosphere?

Back

The rigid outer layer of the Earth, consisting of the crust and the uppermost part of the mantle.

Front

What is the Asthenosphere?

Back

The semi-fluid layer of the mantle beneath the lithosphere that allows tectonic plates to move.

Front

Who proposed the Theory of Continental Drift?

Back

Alfred Wegener.

Front

What evidence supports the Theory of Continental Drift?

Back

Fossil distribution, geological similarities, and the fit of continental coastlines.

Front

What are Tectonic Plates?

Back

Large sections of the Earth's lithosphere that move and interact at their boundaries.

Front

What happens at Divergent Boundaries?

Back

Tectonic plates move apart, leading to the formation of new crust, often at mid-ocean ridges.

Front

What happens at Convergent Boundaries?

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Tectonic plates move towards each other, which can cause one plate to be forced under another, leading to subduction.