Table of Contents
What are the two movements currents happening in the mantle?
Geologists have hypothesized that the movement of tectonic plates is related to convection currents in the earth’s mantle. Tremendous heat and pressure within the earth cause the hot magma to flow in convection currents. These currents cause the movement of the tectonic plates that make up the earth’s crust.
What happens to the mantle when two plates collide?
When the plates move they collide or spread apart allowing the very hot molten material called lava to escape from the mantle. When collisions occur they produce mountains, deep underwater valleys called trenches, and volcanoes.
What would happen to plate motion if the earth’s interior suddenly cooled?
What would happen to plate motion if the earth’s interior suddenly cooled? Plate motion would eventually stop as the earth cooled. Smaller solar system bodies like the moon show no plate tectonic activity. Smaller objects must have cooled off, so there is no energy source to power plate motion.
What are formed when two continental plates are converging?
When two continental plates converge, they smash together and create mountains. The amazing Himalaya Mountains are the result of this type of convergent plate boundary.
What causes convection currents in the Earth’s mantle?
Convection currents in Earth’s mantle are caused by the rise of hot material rising towards the crust, becoming cooler and sinking back down. This process occurs repeatedly, causing the currents to constantly flow. The movement of the currents plays a factor in the movement…
The convection currents, as they carry heat upward with the magma, break apart the plates at areas referred to as divergent plate boundaries. The plates spread at the breaking point, but this pushes the edges of the ocean plates down into the trenches or subduction zones where it is reclaimed…
What causes the movement of continental landmasses and ocean floor?
Recall that both continental landmasses and the ocean floor are part of the earth’s crust, and that the crust is broken into individual pieces called tectonic plates (Fig. 7.14). The movement of these tectonic plates is likely caused by convection currents in the molten rock in Earth’s mantle below the crust.
What causes the movement of tectonic plates on the Earth?
Tremendous heat and pressure within the earth cause the hot magma to flow in convection currents. These currents cause the movement of the tectonic plates that make up the earth’s crust. Simulate tectonic plate spreading by modeling convection currents that occur in the mantle. Examine a map of the earth’s tectonic plates.