The theory of tectonic plates was first posed by Alfred Wenger in 1912. Is the theory of how the earth lithosphere is made up of many separate pieces of the earth’s crust known as tectonic plates. He put forward the idea that all the earth’s continents were once conjoined in one supercontinent called Pangaea, and that these continents were moved by convection currents over a period of many millions of years in to their current positions. These convection currents are made by radioactive energy in the earth’s core causing the semi molten mantle to rise and fall moving the tectonic plates above them. These tectonic plates cause both volcanic and seismic activity which is why these events are crucial to proving the theory of tectonic plates.
Throughout this essay the theory of plate tectonics will be discussed extensively with key references to the volcanic and seismic events and how they are a direct result of the movement of tectonic plates. There will also be discussions on some of the visual evidence there is for the tectonic plate theory, such as the mid-Atlantic ridge, with particular reference to its formation, as well as a detailed explanation of the development of the tectonic plate theory and why it is so widely accepted as fact. There will also be large numbers of annotated diagrams to help explain and clarify some of the ideas put forward in the text as well as making the topic easier to understand as the text will be directly related and aided by the diagrams.
It was Francis Bacon in 1620 who first noted that parts of the world fit together like a ‘jig-saw puzzle’ like the east coast of South America and the west coast of Africa, but no one had any explanation for it until 1912 when German meteorologist Alfred Wenger stated that all the continents had once all been joined together in one supercontinent he named ‘Pangaea’. He used many