Download Plate Tectonics What is it and what makes it work?

Plate Tectonics
What is it and what
makes it work?
Steven Earle, Geology Department
Malaspina University-College
The Earth’s interior
1000 C
4000 C
7000 C
Pea-soup analogy
mantle convection
Heat transfer from the core to the
mantle produces slow convection
of the mantle material
(in the order of centimetres per year)
Mantle convection produces lateral
forces at the boundary between the
mantle and the crust
Lateral forces at the crustmantle boundary push the
crust around – in different
directions – and this leads to
the motion of crustal plates.
The plates are moving at rates
of cm/year
Plate motions
Divergent boundary
Convergent boundary
Subduction
Transform boundary
Plates of the Earth’s crust
Plates around North America