Introduction to Plate Tectonics Theory
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Tectonics plays a major part in why the Earth is the way it is today. The Earth today was not the same as it was millions of years ago; back then, all the continents was one big super continent called Pangaea. All of this has changed due to tectonic activity. This is due to convection currents within the mantle below the Earth's crust. The heat given off from the Earth's core makes the magma (molten rock) become less dense, hence it rises up and the cooler magma sinks. The cycle is repeated. As this occurs, plates (continental or oceanic) which make up the crust, are moved by the currents. Doing so, plates will either move away from (constructive), towards (destructive & convergent) or sideways past (conservative), neighbouring plates. These are what we call plate boundaries. Along plate boundaries, volcanoes appear and earthquakes occur, some major and some minor. On this site we will be looking into two major volcanoes of Mount St Helens and Mount Pinatubo. With the earthquakes we will explore into Japan and Chile.