Plate Tectonics and Landscape
Chapter One
The theory of plate tectonics explains how forces within the planet create landforms. This theory views Earth’s crust as divided into more than a dozen, rigid, slow-moving plates. Some plates are as large as a quarter of the planet, but others are only a few hundred miles across. The plates slowly move across the upper mantle, usually less than an inch per year.
Scientists use the theory of plate tectonics to explain the long history of Earth’s surface. They believe that about a few million years ago, all the continents that we have now today were part of one super continental called Pangaea. Pangaea then broke into two smaller supercontinents called Gandwana and Laurasia. These two then broke into the modern continents we have today. The theory of plate tectonics helps explain the fit between the African coastlines and South America. Rock formations that match up across boundaries provide more evidence. The theory also helps geographers understand the origins of mountains and the landforms of the ocean floor.
The earth has a vast range of landscapes including the lay landscapes of Polar Regions, mountainous landscapes, densely forested or wooded landscapes including past bereal forests and tropical rainforests, and agricultural landscapes and tropical regions.
My particular interest in this case study is to find out how these plate tectonics affect the landscapes of eastern Asia. I am also hoping to unravel the mystery behind what causes these movements of the plates in that particular area and whether the landscapes would be better or worse without these movements of the plates. Chapter two
LITERATURE REVIEW AND DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS
PLATE TECTONICS
The German geologist and meteorologist Alfred Wegener hypothesized that there was an original, gigantic supercontinent 200 million years ago, which he named Pangaea, meaning "All-earth". Pangaea was a supercontinent consisting of all of Earth's land masses. It existed from the Permian through
The theory of plate tectonics explains how forces within the planet create landforms. This theory views Earth’s crust as divided into more than a dozen, rigid, slow-moving plates. Some plates are as large as a quarter of the planet, but others are only a few hundred miles across. The plates slowly move across the upper mantle, usually less than an inch per year.
Scientists use the theory of plate tectonics to explain the long history of Earth’s surface. They believe that about a few million years ago, all the continents that we have now today were part of one super continental called Pangaea. Pangaea then broke into two smaller supercontinents called Gandwana and Laurasia. These two then broke into the modern continents we have today. The theory of plate tectonics helps explain the fit between the African coastlines and South America. Rock formations that match up across boundaries provide more evidence. The theory also helps geographers understand the origins of mountains and the landforms of the ocean floor.
The earth has a vast range of landscapes including the lay landscapes of Polar Regions, mountainous landscapes, densely forested or wooded landscapes including past bereal forests and tropical rainforests, and agricultural landscapes and tropical regions.
My particular interest in this case study is to find out how these plate tectonics affect the landscapes of eastern Asia. I am also hoping to unravel the mystery behind what causes these movements of the plates in that particular area and whether the landscapes would be better or worse without these movements of the plates. Chapter two
LITERATURE REVIEW AND DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS
PLATE TECTONICS
The German geologist and meteorologist Alfred Wegener hypothesized that there was an original, gigantic supercontinent 200 million years ago, which he named Pangaea, meaning "All-earth". Pangaea was a supercontinent consisting of all of Earth's land masses. It existed from the Permian through