Plate Tectonics

Mr. Weather’s World is a weekly video series bringing you interesting and reliable information about the Earth Sciences, Space Weather, and Climate Change. Tune in each week for exciting new content with host and meteorologist Curt Silverwood (Millersville University Alum).

Edited with: Adobe Premiere, After Effects, Character Animator, and Audition.

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Alfred Wegener was right when he said that the continents were once joined, but it wasn’t the continents that drifted apart! Instead, what can explain the movement is the theory of Plate Tectonics.

Discovered in the 1960s, Plate Tectonics is a scientific concept that gave a better understanding of how dynamic our planet is. The Earth is broken into sections called tectonic plates. These plates “float” along the upper mantle. They are driven by gravity.

Tectonic plates are always in motion and move about 3 inches per year.

They move apart by mantle convection or subduction at plate boundaries - where they meet. There are divergent, transform, and convergent boundaries.

At transform boundaries is where you’ll find faults as the two plates slide past each other causing massive earthquakes. In North America, the San Andreas fault is notorious for its movements.

Next time, we’ll explore faults in more detail. Thank you for watching and please subscribe to Mr. Weather’s World on YouTube for new videos every #WeatherWednesday!
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