Plate Tectonic Plates Research Paper

The World Beneath Our Feet

Beneath our feet, a dozen plates are moving, creating more and more damage to human life. Millions of years ago our continents were compiled into one big block called Pangea. Plate tectonics is a theory that answers most of our questions about the earth’s surface. For example it tells us where and why most volcanoes occur, how mountains are formed and so many more questions. Plate tectonics affects our planets in many ways. They are the cause of most natural disaster such as volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis.

Pangea

The theory of Pangea helps explain Plate Tectonics. These tectonic plates moved along the Earth’s surface for 250 million years and they are still moving today! But only a couple of inches a year.”

These plates have three movements, divergent, convergent and transform boundaries. These are the causes of most natural hazards and disasters. The first is the divergent boundary where plates move apart from each other. The second is the convergent boundary where plates move towards each other. Finally, the transform boundary, where plates slide *alongside* each other. These movement cause many natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis. alongside: move side by side

Figure 2 : This is a map of our 12 major tectonic plates

Causes of most natural disasters

Have you ever wondered about how earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes were all created? They were created because of this movement of the plates or continental drift.

Earthquakes

Earthquakes are created in transform boundaries which is when two plates move alongside each other. Sometime, in a transform boundary, the plates get jammed and pressure builds underneath the plates. Depending on the amount of pressure it can cause a huge earthquake. Earthquakes not only shake the ground but can also create cracks in the ground called faults. A machine that measures the intensity of an earthquake is called a seismograph. Scientists use this machine to predict how strong an earthquake is and then classify it on the Richter Scale (Figure 2

The magma is much less dense than than other solid layers around it. As the magma rises the dissolved gases make the magma shoot up even faster. When the magma reaches the surface it is considered lava. When the lava cools it turns into rock that build up layers on the volcano. There are two types of volcanoes, a stratovolcanoes and shield volcanoes.

Stratovolcanoes are created when there is more gas in the magma, when these volcanoes erupt then send out ash clouds called pyroclastic flow. When there is less gas in the magma. it create a shield volcano. We believe that these shield volcanoes are responsible for every bit of land on this planet.

Tsunamis

A tsunami is also another natural disaster that can cause a lot of damage. It can be caused by an earthquake, landslide or a volcano. Tsunamis are mainly found in subduction zones. In a subduction zone the two plates meet and build pressure eventually the oceanic plate which is the heavier plate slides under the continental plate causing an earthquake. The earthquake shifts part of the ocean floor creating waves, however, gravity evens it out. This wave still carries a lot of energy. When it reaches the shore, all that energy builds up and the wave rises, causing major