There is around 57,308,738 square miles of land surface area on Earth. The Earth doesn’t seem that large. That is just thirty percent of the total earth. Imagine all those square miles were all connected. If only all of the seven continents the earth may seem seven times larger. The thing is this once did happen. When all the continents were combined they were called Pangea. When this was discovered it changed the entire perspective of the world. Theories like, Continental Drift, Seafloor Spreading, and Plate Tectonics revolutionized the way people viewed our world, and should be studied. Continental Drift revolutionized the way scientists think about of the Earth today. Continental Drift is the idea that the continents were all once together …show more content…
The theory of Plate Tectonics is the theory that lithosphere is broken into pieces, those peices are moved by convection currents, as they move geologic features are made and events occur. Plate Tectonics can not believed to be true without the contributions from the theories of Continental Drift and Seafloor Spreading. Continental Drift proofs display that the continents are everlastingly moving. Seafloor Spreading on the other hand, shows that entire fraction of the earth, the seafloor can move. Thats means that parts of the earth can move and all that is left is, how continents could move. There comes the theory of Plate Tectonics. Another way to prove that Plate Tectonics is true is the data from earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. One of the modern day largest tectonic plates is what is known as, the Pacific Plate. The Pacific Plate is bordered by several volcanos. (Watson) The activity around the Pacific plate interacting creates lots of volcanoes and volcanic mountains. An example of volcanic mountains would be the Andes Mountains in South America. (Swislocki, Plate Tectonics) Along the borders of the Pacific Plate is not just volcanos but also many frequent earthquakes. The Pacific Plate’s borders have some of the most frequent earthquakes of all of the plate boundaries. For this reason and also because of the several volcanos along the boundaries the boundaries of the Pacific Plate are called the Ring of Fire. (Swislocki, Tectonic Plate Activity) The Pacific Plate may be one of the most commonly known places with high tectonic plate activity in the world, but volcanos and earthquakes provide boundaries for many plates around the world. This how scientists know that there are tectonic plates. Their boundaries leave a trace. Tectonic Plates explain how continents could possibly drift apart. Plate Tectonics set out a whole new plate of ideas for scientists to think