The Theory Of Plate Tectonics

Plate tectonics is the theory that Earth's outer shell is divided into several plates that glide over the mantle, the rocky inner layer above the core. Compared to the mantle, the plates are a hard, tough, and rigid shell. California is made up of different types of plates that are unique in the way that they form and move. (LiveScience)

The plate tectonics theory was made by a German named Alfred Wegener. He stated that a single continent existed about 300 million years ago named Pangaea and that it split into two continents of Laurasia in the north and Gondwanaland in the south. Today’s continents were formed by further splitting of the two masses.

II: Plate tectonics shows the features and movement of the Earth. The theory of plate tectonics says that the outer shell of the earth is broken down into pieces often called plates (Korenaga). These plates hover over the mantle creating movement (Marshak). With plate tectonics you can determine the earth’s features without actually seeing it.

The theory of plate tectonics states that the Earth’s lithosphere (top layer of the Earth’s crust) is split up into rigid sections called plates that are moving relative to one another as they move on top of the underlying semi-molten mantle. These plates are either continental, The North American Plate, or oceanic, The Nazca Plate.

The theory of plate tectonics was first developed by Alfred Wegener. He concluded that the continents seem to have a similar shape and could potentially fit together. This suggested that they were at one time joined together as part of 2 super continents called Gondwanaland and Laurasia was in the north. This theory was said to be proven by the discovery of fossilised remains of a mesosaurus that were found on the coasts of Brazil and Gabon. Sea floor spreading is another theory that supports the idea of plate tectonics; this theory discovered that rock is being formed under the ocean as a new sea floor. Sea floor spreading was shown in the Atlantic, where it is believed the Eurasian and North American plates are moving apart on a

In junior high school, I have learned the Continental Drift Theory, and my geography teacher told me there was a new theory based on the Continental Theory, i.e. Plate Tectonics. I accessed to the Internet to find the information about Plate Tectonics.

The theory of the continental drift is that the continents have slowly drifted to their current location. Alfred Wegener believed that all the seven continents were once a supercontinent known as Pangea. A discovery that came from climate clues like glacial deposits in South America, Africa, Australia and India. Rock and fossils matching evidence found in South America and Africa.

Plate tectonics is the scientific theory that attempts to explain the movements of the Earth's lithosphere that have formed the landscape features we see across the globe today” (Briney). Geology defines “plate” as a large slab of solid rock, and “tectonics” is part of the Greek root word for “to build.” Together the words define how the Earth’s surface is built up of moving plates. The theory of plate tectonics dictates that individual plates, broken down into large and small sections of rock, form Earth’s lithosphere. These fragmented bodies of rock move along each other atop the Earth’s liquid lower mantle to create the plate boundaries that have shaped Earth’s landscape. Plate tectonics originated from meteorologist Alfred Wegener’s theory, developed in the early 20th century. In 1912, he realized that the east coast of South America and the west coast of Africa appeared to piece together like a jigsaw puzzle. He further examined the globe and deduced that all of Earth’s continents could somehow be assembled together and proposed the idea that the continents had once been linked in a single supercontinent called Pangaea. To explain today’s position of the continents, Wegener theorized that they began to drift apart approximately 300 million years ago. This theory

Continental drift was a theory offered by Alfred Wegener in 1912 that hypothesized that all the continents at one time fit together as one land mass. Wegener, explained that the ends of each continent could fit together like a puzzle and that over time the continents drifted apart. "The model explained why the same types of fossils occur in sedimentary rock on both sides of the vast Atlantic Ocean" (Star, 2008, pg. 250), in other words allopatric speciation. Wegener's theory did not have a supporting geological mechanism. Many years later and advances in technology brought about the plate tectonics theory. Essentially it says:

Questions were raised when rocks were found on the surface of the Earth that had manetization the did not corralate to the location that it was found. Also, Harry Hess suggested that the continents could have drifted and still were because the sea floor was moving much like a conveyor. (Bugielski, 1999).

A German meteorologist and explorer Alfred Wegener put forth the theory of continental drift in the early 1900’s. Wegener pointed out that the earth’s continents looked as if they were all connected at one point in time. He also pointed out that some of earth’s features, including the long S-shaped mountain structure formed on the Atlantic seafloor, could fit snugly against the corresponding western seafloor of Europe and Africa (Sieh and LeVay 1998). Wegener proposed that all of the earth’s continents once formed one single landmass, which he named Pangaea or “all-land”. He concluded that Pangaea had broken up and separated due to the unidentifiable forces estimated 300 million years ago (Sieh and LeVay 1998). Geologists did not fully understand at the time that Earth’s continents could drift (Hazen 2012). After all, the continents do not float in the oceans. They are made from a solid material connecting to the mantle, a sphere of solid rock

Alfred Wegener was a meteorologist and astronomer. He was the first scientist to introduce the theory of the continental drift. Wegener theorized that at one time the continents were one large landmass or Pangaea that had drifted apart. His ideas were initially rejected by other scientists. It was not until long after Wegener’s death that proof was obtained and his theory verified.

Plate tectonics theory is the scientific theory that describes the large-scale motion of the Earth’s lithosphere, which is broken up into tectonic plates. Volcanic landforms are undoubtedly very important in aiding our understanding of plate tectonic theory. However, there is other evidence that must be considered as well.

The theory of plate tectonics evolved out of the theory of continental drift. Alfred Wegener originally proposed the theory that continents move over time in 1912 after observing that many coastlines on opposite sides of the ocean appeared to match up like puzzle pieces. He formed the theory of continental drift based on evidence, such as the fact that fossils of the same species of plant or land animals are found across oceans, on different continents. Unfortunately, Wegener's theory was largely ignored in part because it did not explain how or why the continents moved. Over the next 50 years, however, scientists continued to collect evidence that suggested he may have been right. For example,

In the middle of the eighteenth century, James Hutton proposed a theory, uniformitarianism; “the present is the key to the past”. It held that processes such as geologic forces- gradual and catastrophic-occurring in the present were the same that operated in the past. (Matt Rosenberg, 2004) This theory coincides with the theory of Continental Drift that was first proposed by Abraham Ortelius in December 1596, who suggested that North, South America, Africa and Eurasia were once connected but had been torn apart by earthquakes and floods. He also discovered that the coasts of the eastern part of South America and the