How Do Tectonic Plates Affect Us? Even though plates move very slowly, their motion, called plate tectonics , has a huge impact on our planet. Plate tectonics form the oceans, continents, and mountains. It also helps us understand why and where events like earthquakes occur and volcanoes erupt. Why are tectonic plates important to us?
What Are The Basic Assumptions Of The Plate Tectonics Theory? Plate tectonic theory is based on several assumptions about tectonic processes: 1) that new material is generated by sea-floor spreading at the mid-ocean ridges, which once formed become part of a plate, 2) that surface area is conserved, therefore plate material must be destroyed through
What Tectonic Plate Is Easter Island Located On? Easter and Sala y Gomez Islands lie on the Nazca plate in the Eastern Pacific on a zone of high topography known as the Sala y Gomez Ridge (Figure 1). Is Easter Island a divergent plate boundary? The Easter plate is a small oceanic plate in an