Plate+Tectonics



**Plate Tectonics is the theory that the lithosphere is divided into thick plates that are constantly moving.** The differences in densities of the semisolid material in the asthenoshpere causes convection currents that drive the plates.

Prior to the theory of Plate Tectonics, Continental Drift was the only idea that scientists had. Continental Drift is the theory, born from Alfred Wegener, that suggests the continents were once a single landmass (which we call Pangaea). It states that the continents have moved slowly from being together, to the place where they are now, after hundreds of millions of years.

. Plates can move apart at divergent boundaries, together at convergent boundaries, or slide past each other at transform boundaries .

The plate tectonic page from the reference tables: