Tectonic Plates and The Plate Tectonics Theory

There are parts of the world where this process is evident on a daily basis. When the edges of these plates meet, they produce intense activity, marked by earthquakes and other geological events. The majority of these plates are a combination of oceanic and continental lithosphere, while the Nazca, Pacific and Juan de Fuca Plates are made up of mostly oceanic lithosphere. After testing, it was concluded that the lava that had cooled on the bottom of the ocean produced parallel magnetic patterns, reinforcing the sea-floor spreading theory. There are currently 21 satellites being used by the United States, and each of these can be and are being used to track plate locations and movements. This theory suggests that there are convection currents that push the ocean floor up and out, actually forming a new oceanic lithosphere. American geologists found that theory highly unlikely and Wenger’s work was widely discredited in America. For example, if rock cools when the Northern Pole is in the earth’s southern hemisphere, then the magnetic anomalies that occur in the rock will be weaker than expected. Conversely, the Western banks of South America show evidence of convergent plate boundary, where the plates are pushing and moving towards one another, in this case the Nazca and South American Plates. Jason Morgan proposed in 1967 that the Earth's surface is made up of 12 of these plates. An example of this is the Mid-Atlantic ridge. This is the boundary between the Pacific plate and several other plates. Volcanoes produce some of the most fertile soil on earth, while magma that does not erupt from a volcano often forms huge ore deposits beneath the surface. The plate tectonics theory is a combination of two other theories: continental drift and sea-floor spreading. This allows geologists to see how far the plates have moved towards or away from each other.