"Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life"
Rachel Carson, Peace and Love
Tectonic Plates
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Earth, as we know it, is not made up simply of water and land. It is made up of four concentric layers. As you can see from the image on the left hand side, the four layers are the crust, mantle, outer core and the inner core. Below is a short description of each:
The Inner Core is in the centre and is the hottest part of the Earth. It is solid and made up of iron and nickel with temperatures of up to 5,500°C. With its immense heat energy, the inner core is like the engine room of the Earth. The Outer Core is the layer surrounding the inner core. It is a liquid layer, also made up of iron and nickel. It is still extremely hot, with temperatures similar to the inner core. The Mantle is the widest section of the Earth. It has a thickness of approximately 2,900 km. The mantle is made up of semi-molten rock called magma. In the upper parts of the mantle the rock is hard, but lower down the rock is soft and beginning to melt. The Crust is the outer layer of the earth. It is a thin layer between 0-60 km thick. The crust is the solid rock layer upon which we live. The earths crust however, is broken into tectonic plates and it is at these plate boundaries that different activity can take place. The image on the left outlines the plate boundaries across the globe. See if you can find out what plate you live on. Heat rising and falling inside the mantle creates convection currents generated by radioactive decay in the core. The convection currents move the plates in certain directions. Click on the images on the bottom of the page to explore the three types of tectonic plates we find on the earths crust. |
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This video gives you a brief explanation of all the plate boundaries. Be aware there can be different terminology used for each boundary and some exam boards may use different ones. Get to grips with what each one means and how this affects the earths crust! |
CONSTRUCTIVEPlates move apart.
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DESTRUCTIVEPlates move towards each other.
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CONSERVATIVEPlates slide past each other.
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