Plate tectonics is the theory that Earth's outer layer is made up of plates, which have moved throughout Earth's history. The theory explains the how and why behind mountains, volcanoes ...

The Earth is made of different layers: the core, mantle and crust. Plate tectonic theory shows that the crust of the Earth is split into plates (pieces of the Earth’s crust). The movement of ...

Sinking in one place leads to plates moving apart in other places. The movement of the plates and the activity inside the Earth, is called the theory of plate tectonics.

Plate tectonics is geology’s Theory of Everything. The realisation in the 1960s that Earth’s crust is made of fragments called plates—and that these plates can grow, shrink and move around ...

Both are twice the size of the moon. Those blobs, the theory goes, created plate tectonics – the geologic phenomenon that fuels earthquakes and volcanoes, which allow life to flourish.

The driver of all this is plate tectonics: Earth’s surface is divided into several dozen plates, which move horizontally. Figuring out how this got started, however, has proved surprisingly ...