Plate tectonics

• Plates converge and one plate slides beneath another causing the upper plate to fold and fracture creating fault lines and mountain ranges.
• Convection currents within the mantle drive plate motion.
• Plate tectonics refers to the movement of large plates that make up Earth's lithosphere.
• At divergent boundaries, magma rises through fissures in the crust and cools into basaltic rock.
• Divergent boundaries occur when two plates move away from each other, resulting in the formation of new ocean floor at mid-ocean ridges or continental rift valleys on land.
• There are three types of boundaries where two plates meet: divergent, convergent, and transform.
• Mid-ocean ridges form at divergent boundaries where two oceanic plates move apart.
• Continental drift theory suggests that continents were once joined together as one supercontinent called Pangaea.
• Transform faults are found where plates slide past one another without creating or destroying material.
• Plate tectonics refers to the movement of large pieces of rock on the surface of the earth known as lithospheric plates.
• Transform plate boundaries are characterized by horizontal motion at right angles to the direction of plate motion.
• Divergent plate boundaries occur where two lithospheric plates move away from one another, creating new crustal material through magma intrusion or volcanic eruptions.