Plate Tectonics
They are the creators of what we call home.
What do Plate tectonics do?
Plate tectonics are plates that lie on the lithosphere. These plates move position and do many things that change the shape of our earth.
There are two types of plates:
1. Oceanic: plates located in the ocean
2. Continental: plates located on land
There are 3 main actions these plates do along their boundaries:
Diverge:
This occurs when a plate moves away from one side of its boundary. This will create a fault in the earth and from new land. But some people question if the plates are constantly creating new land why does the earth stay the same in size?
Converge:
The question above can be answered from this type of plate occurrence. Plate that converge smash into each other and will push the ends of the plates upward. This is how mountains form. It also explains why our earth is not growing larger. The land is just covering more space in the sky rather than expanding the land.
Transform:
When plates do this, the effects can be more dangerous. When plates transform, they scrap against each other and sometimes they will get caught against one another. When this happens pressure builds up between the two plates. Once the two plates unlatch, the pressure is released and that pressure send vibrations outward to the surface and an earthquake occurs. If this happens underwater, a tsunami can occur.
How does this affect the lithosphere?
Plate boundaries are always changing the lithosphere. Back then, All the continents were formed into one large super-continent called Pangea (image to the right). This evidence proves that the lithosphere is constantly changing.
Do these changes correlate with other scientific studies?
Most certainly they do. One very good example is the study of weathering and erosion. Since these plates form new land, weathering and erosion can occur upon these new monuments. These plates can also cause weathering and erosion. For example, if a tsunami were to occur by plate boundaries, water erosion would then take place because the power of the water would move land sediments to a new location. The picture on the right displays that a tsunami eroded the base dirt level to a new area
Final thoughts
Plate tectonics are a major factor in our lives. we constantly live in a changing environment due to the tectonics. This makes us have to adapt to all these situations that may occur from plate tectonics. We however, overlook the fact of plate tectonics being such a major issue in our lives. We build these amazing buildings which can be destroyed by earthquakes and tsunami's. If we are more aware, we could be able to save ourselves the trouble of dealing with the damage these events cause making our lives more beneficial.
Sources:
http://eqseis.geosc.psu.edu/~cammon/HTML/Classes/IntroQuakes/Notes/plate_tect01.html
http://www.geology4today.com/plate-tectonics.html
http://cracksinthecrust.tumblr.com/
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/geology/grocha/plates/platetec16.htm
https://thomasoisom.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/porters-race-weekend/
http://www.tsunami.civil.tohoku.ac.jp/hokusai3/E/itfs2010/session.html