how might convection currents be the cause of plate tectonics??

Answer 1

The crust of the earth is a relatively thin layer that floats on top of the much denser mantle. The mantle is in a semi-liquid state due to the effetcs of heat and pressure at great depth. Heat causes the mantle to move in slow convection currents, which in turn causes the plates floating above to move.

At the mid-Atlantic ridge, for example, two convection currents meet. One rises from the direction of Europe, turns, and heads back toward Europe, pulling the curst above with it. The other does the same in the direction of North and South America. The result is a slow upwelling of new crust for htousands of miles along this ridge, almost all of it hidden in the deep Atlantic. This process reaches the surface in a few places such as Iceland, where it results in volcanoes.

Answer 2

The movement of tectonic plates are assumed moving because of convection current in magma. But there are several contradictory theory exist. You can accept that the tectonic plate is moving at the rate of about 50 to100 mm per year. You can look a boiling egg in hot water. Why it moves.We assume that because of the same principal tectonic plate also moves. It may take several more decades to find the real cause and to find proper prediction methods. I am the one who developed the early warning system for earthquakes. This simple instrument has helped me to issue the alert message 2 hours before Tsunami struck our Indian coast. Several scientists appreciated my inventions. The same time few seismologist criticized my inventions.

Answer 3

Wow this sounds like a question right off a homework.

Convection force is when colder, denser material sinks and hotter, less dense material rises creating a ideally circular current. Compare it to a pot of boiling water. It doesn't work quite like that in the Earth but its a good enough analogy. So this convection forces creates currents in the mantle that push and pull the plates along the top of asthenosphere.

Hotter mantle closer to the core is rising and colder mantle closer to the crust is sinking. Unlike a pot of boiling water, in the Earth it is an incredibly slow current.

Answer 4

hope this helps you http://www.answers.com/topic/plate-tectonics .