Stress changes Earth's crust because it transforms the shape and volume of the rock. The reason why is when tectonic plates move it builds the stress up and the stress relieves itself through tension, compression, and shearing. For example, tension is the act of pulling on the crust and thinning out the center. This happens as a result of two plates pulling apart for each other On the other hand, compression is the opposite of tension. Compression is the action of compressing rock until it finally folds or breaks. Compression happens due to the movement of two plates coming together. Meanwhile, shearing is completely different from both of them. Shearing movie's a mass of rock into two opposite directions,
therefore, rock reacts by breaking or slipping apart and change the earth's crust. This occurs as two plates slide apart from one another. To summarize, the tectonic plates movement causes stress to change Earth's crusts shape and volume.