Convection currents describe the rising, spread, and sinking of gas, liquid, or molten material caused by the application of heat. ... Tremendous heat and pressure within the earth cause the hot magma to flow in convection currents. These currents cause the movement of the tectonic plates that make up the earth’s crust.
How does convection cause the motion of plates that drives plate tectonics quizlet?
Part of the mantle consists of the molten material that circulates in convection currents beneath the earths crust. This process drives plate tectonics. ... when two oceanic plates pull apart at a divergent boundary, magma rises and new crust is formed on the ocean floor.
What causes convection that drives plate motion?
Geologists have hypothesized that the movement of tectonic plates is related to convection currents in the earth’s mantle. ... Tremendous heat and pressure within the earth cause the hot magma to flow in convection currents. These currents cause the movement of the tectonic plates that make up the earth’s crust.
Is convection The driving force of plate tectonics?
The forces that drive Plate Tectonics include: Convection in the Mantle (heat driven) Ridge push (gravitational force at the spreading ridges)
What drives the plate to move?
The heat from radioactive processes within the planet’s interior causes the plates to move, sometimes toward and sometimes away from each other. This movement is called plate motion, or tectonic shift.
What are the 3 causes of plate movement?
Mantle dynamics, gravity, and Earth’s rotation taken altogether causes the plate movements. However, convectional currents are the general thought for the motion.
What are the 3 types of plate boundaries What type of motion is happening at each?
- Convergent boundaries: where two plates are colliding. Subduction zones occur when one or both of the tectonic plates are composed of oceanic crust. ...
- Divergent boundaries – where two plates are moving apart. ...
- Transform boundaries – where plates slide passed each other.
How fast do plates move?
They can move at rates of up to four inches (10 centimeters) per year , but most move much slower than that. Different parts of a plate move at different speeds. The plates move in different directions, colliding, moving away from, and sliding past one another. Most plates are made of both oceanic and continental crust.
What happens when two tectonic plates meet?
If two tectonic plates collide, they form a convergent plate boundary . Usually, one of the converging plates will move beneath the other, a process known as subduction. ... The new magma (molten rock) rises and may erupt violently to form volcanoes, often building arcs of islands along the convergent boundary
What happens at a plate boundary where two plates are moving away from each other?
A divergent boundary occurs when two tectonic plates move away from each other. Along these boundaries, earthquakes are common and magma (molten rock) rises from the Earth’s mantle to the surface, solidifying to create new oceanic crust. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is an example of divergent plate boundaries.
How do driving and resisting forces affect plate movement?
resisting forces The main effect of the underlying mantle is to produce a shearing or frictional force resisting the motion of lithospheric plates. ... Friction between the converging plates and also the force required to bend a plate resist the movement of the plate at subduction zones.
What do you call plate boundaries that move toward each other?
Convergent (Colliding) : This occurs when plates move towards each other and collide. When a continental plate meets an oceanic plate, the thinner, denser, and more flexible oceanic plate sinks beneath the thicker, more rigid continental plate. This is called subduction.
What are the effects of tectonic plates?
They have also caused faults, cracks in the earth’s crust. Shifts along a fault can also cause earthquakes or violent jolts in the area around it. In coastal areas undersea earthquakes can cause huge waves known as Tsunamis to erupt. Plate tectonics cause folding of rock layers into mountains .
Which effects are caused by plate tectonics?
Plate motions cause mountains to rise where plates push together, or converge, and continents to fracture and oceans to form where plates pull apart, or diverge . The continents are embedded in the plates and drift passively with them, which over millions of years results in significant changes in Earth’s geography.
What will happen if tectonic plates continue to move?
One big problem with plate tectonics stopping is that plate motion is the mechanism by which Earth is cooling down and getting rid of its internal heat. If the plates stopped moving, the planet would have to find a new and efficient means to blow off this heat.
How many plates are there?
how many tectonic plates are there? There are major, minor and micro tectonic plates. There are seven major plates : African, Antarctic, Eurasian, Indo-Australian, North American, Pacific and South American.
