Plate Techtonics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Plate Techtonics - Essay Example According to this theory, the Earths crust is composed up of about a dozen plates or big rock slaps on which the continents and oceans lies. Plate tectonics explains the big scale movements of Earths lithosphere. The theory comprises the developed beliefs of continental drift, urbanized throughout the initial half of the 20th century, and seafloor scattering, understood during the 1960s Wiki (2008). The furthest part of the Earths center comprises two layers: top layer is the lithosphere which surrounds the coating and the inflexible topmost part of the layer. Inferior the lithosphere the asthenosphere lies. While the hard, the asthenosphere has comparatively small thickness and shear potency and is able to stream like a liquid on geological time scales. The inner deeper layer under the asthenosphere is extra rigid yet again due to the higher stress / pressure ThinkQuest(2008). The lithosphere is divided tectonic plates, if we talk about the Earth; there are 7 main and important plates and many small/ minor plates. These plates are frequently shifting their position because the surface under them, the boiling, hot, soft layer, is changing position gradually similar to a conveyor strap/ belt, determined by heat and other forces at work in the Earths core/ center. These plates or slaps are changing their positions or moving at speed of approximately a centimeter (0.5 inch) to 15 cm (6 inch) per year in diverse directions. In scientific notations this movement is called as â€Å"cross motion of the plates is naturally at rate of 50-100 mm/a† Wiki (2008). Now we talk about the Continental drift. It is the movement of or change in the position of the Earths continents compared to one another. The idea that continents drift was originally proposed by Abraham Ortelius in 1596 and was fully urbanized by Alfred Wegener in 1912. However it is fully developed after the advancement of the assumption of plate tectonics in the