Brief Idea on Tectonic Theory

Plate tectonics is a crucial concept in modern geology as this concept explains many things, like how land masses were formed. Let us review some information regarding plate tectonic theory in this section. In a nutshell, tectonic theory refers to the complex external layer of the Earth, which is partitioned into plates and then moves across the asthenosphere of Earth. As a result, a tectonic plate is formed. Moreover, there are three types of tectonic plates: Divergent, Convergent, and Transform. The topic is vast enough, though detailed notes on Brief Idea on tectonic theory are as follows.

Founder of plate tectonic theory

• Tectonic plates are enormous and disoriented rock slabs that are separated due to some kind of drift.
• In 1915, Alfred Wegener discovered a drift, which he called a “continental drift,” which further led to the formulation of the tectonic theory. 
• Palaeontologists found that many continents separated into new geographical places due to this drift. Along with these places, many fossil species also diverged and were found to be on distant continents.
• Paleoclimate studies, which concerned inspecting the environment from quite a while ago, uncovered that glacial masses covered huge regions of the world, which additionally are currently isolated by extraordinary geographic distances. These perceptions appeared to demonstrate that the Earth’s lithosphere had been moving throughout geologic time.

Info about the theory of tectonic plates

These plate movements occur mainly in 3 types – Divergent, Convergent, and Transform.

Let’s talk about each of them –

• Divergent 

This kind of movement basically denotes the movement of plates just opposite each other. The Gulf of Aden and The Great Rift Valley in Africa are some studied and proven examples of divergent or spreading plate movement.

• Convergent

This happens when plates move towards one another and impact. Whenever a mainland plate meets an oceanic plate, the more slender, denser, and more adaptable marine plate sinks underneath the thicker, more unbending mainland plate. This is called subduction.

One more type of convergent boundary is a crash that two mainland plates deal with. Since neither one of the plates is more grounded than different, they fold and are pushed up. This can prompt the arrangement of immense, high mountain ranges like the Himalayas.

• Transform

There is a transform or lateral fault at the meeting point of these two tectonic plates. This phenomenon can be illustrated by the San Andreas Fault.

Plate tectonic theory

Some postulates help us to understand this concept. Generally, the Earth’s crust is divided into three parts – 

1. Lithosphere
2. Upper mantle 
3. Asthenosphere 

When the lithosphere breaks into pieces, they start floating in the region of the asthenosphere. Now, these plate movements create a current in the upper mantle.

These pieces of plates now start moving horizontally in asthenosphere regions. The development of these crustal plates causes the arrangement of different landforms and is the chief reason for all earthly developments. The edges of the plates are the locales of extensive geologic movement, for example, ocean bottom spreading, volcanic ejections, crustal twisting, mountain building, and mainland floating.

Basically, the word tectonic is extracted from the word tectonics, which is a Greek word that denotes the construction or development of buildings. It also denotes the disfigurement of the Earth’s crust due to the effect of all the internal forces.

These tectonic plates are distributed on major and minor levels as mentioned below – 

Major tectonic plates

• Pacific plate
• Antarctica plate
• Eurasia and nearby plates
• South and North American plate
• India-Australia-New Zealand plate
• Africa, along with the eastern Atlantic plate

Minor tectonic plates

• Fuji plate
• Nazca plate
• Cocos plate
• Iranian plate
• Turkish plate
• Arabian plate
• Caroline plate
• Philippine plate
• Caribbean plate
• Juan de Fuca plate

These tectonic plates are the core reason for volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and other earthly phenomena. 

Conclusion

From all the above, we learned tectonic theory, and we covered all essential aspects of the theory. From it, we concluded that Earth’s crust is divided into three parts, namely, lithosphere, asthenosphere, and upper mantle. Moreover, the landmass gets diverged at the place of the lithosphere. Then, it develops a current in the upper mantle of the Earth, and finally, by floating in the asthenosphere, it diverges are converges. Hence, a tectonic plate is formed. Pacific plate, Antarctica plate, Philippine plate, and Caribbean plate are some examples of Tectonic plates.