What does the theory of plate tectonics explain?

Answer 1

The theory of plate tectonics has done for geology what Charles Darwin's theory of evolution did for biology. It provides geology with a comprehensive theory that explains "how the Earth works."

The theory was formulated in the 1960s and 1970s as new information was obtained about the nature of the ocean floor, Earth's ancient magnetism, the distribution of volcanoes and earthquakes, the flow of heat from Earth's interior, and the worldwide distribution of plant and animal fossils.

The theory states that Earth's outermost layer, the lithosphere, is broken into 7 large, rigid pieces called plates: the African, North American, South American, Eurasian, Australian, Antarctic, and Pacific plates. Several minor plates also exist, including the Arabian, Nazca, and Philippines plates.

The plates are all moving in different directions and at different speeds (from 2 cm to 10 cm per year--about the speed at which your fingernails grow) in relationship to each other. The plates are moving around like cars in a demolition derby, which means they sometimes crash together, pull apart, or sideswipe each other.

The place where the two plates meet is called a plate boundary. Boundaries have different names depending on how the two plates are moving in relationship to each other

crashing together : Convergent Boundaries (the Himalayas between China and India)
pulling apart: Divergent Boundaries (mid-Atlantic ridges)
or sideswiping: Transform Boundaries (San Andreas Fault--about 5 miles as the crow flies from my house north of San Francisco, CA)

The theory of Plate Tectonics explains the cause of earthquakes, volcanoes, oceanic trenches, mountain range formation, and many other geologic phenomenon.

Answer 2

permit' see... The magnetic container changes at a variable value, counting on the spin of the earth and desperate, no longer in basic terms by capacity of celestial bodies, yet by capacity of the peak of mountains and distribution of weight on the floor. additionally, the earth isn't a acceptable sphere, yet a spheroid. the international conveyor strikes extra earth than your occasion is accounting for. Plus the sea floor is being lifted using fact the continents circulate. additionally, some places erode quicker than others. Sand strikes very much extra effective than rock, so a blanket prevalent shouldn't help. additionally, your occasion seems to forget approximately what's below the earth and the place the salt comes from interior the 1st place. it incredibly is in comparison to x quantity of salt replaced into dropped, and it would be get much less and much less as time is going on. there's a lot extra to it than that. the shortcoming of cracks in strata can take place in many, many distinctive approaches. you will possibly decide to locate particular strata and circulate from there. needless to say, there is voluminous evidence opposite on your viewpoint relating to strata and geology. Your information of carbon dating is so disgusting it makes me bodily ill to study it. "The 2004 version of the calibration curve extends returned extremely properly to 26,000 years BP. Any blunders interior the calibration curve do no longer make contributions extra effective than ±sixteen years to the measurement blunders throughout the time of the historic and previous due prehistoric classes (0 - 6,000 yrs BP) and not extra effective than ±163 years over the finished 26,000 years of the curve. In previous due 2009, the magazine Radiocarbon introduced contract on the INTCAL09 favourite, which extends a extra precise calibration curve to 50,000 years." needless to say, carbon dating isn't was once sure the age of the earth. The age of the earth is desperate by capacity of very much of autonomous at a similar time helping evidence. All you have is a bad line of reasoning and incorrect documents.

Answer 3

It provides geology with a comprehensive theory that explains "how the EARTH WORKS".

Answer 4

Continental drift.

Answer 5

That the earth crust is floating and not solid