Year 10 science Research task Continental drift and plate tectonics
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Year 10 science
Research task
Continental drift and plate tectonics
Q1 research the theory of continental drift and plate tectonics.
Information on Plate Tectonics
Theory on Plates Tectonics
In the early 1960s, the theory of plate tectonics started a revolution in the earth sciences. Since then, scientists have verified and refined this theory, and now have a much better understanding of how our planet has been shaped by plate-tectonic processes. We now know that, directly or indirectly, plate tectonics influence nearly all geologic processes, past and present. The notion that the entire Earth's surface is continually shifting has changed the way we view our world. In geologic terms, the word plate is a large, rigid slab of solid rock. The word tectonics comes from the Greek word "to build." Putting these two words together, we get the term plate tectonics, which refer to how the Earth's surface is built of plates. The theory of plate tectonics states that the Earth's outermost layer is fragmented into a dozen or more large and small plates that are moving relative to one another as they ride atop hotter, more mobile material. Before the advent of plate tectonics, however, some people already believed that the present-day continents were the fragmented pieces of pre-existing larger landmasses ("super continents")...