The Continents And Ocean Floor Are On Lithospheric Plates

List the seven largest lithospheric plates.

The continents and ocean floor are on lithospheric plates.

The two continents are moving away from each other at the rate of about 2 5 centimeters 1 inch per year. Long chain of mountains with a central rift valley that is located along a divergent boundary on the ocean floor. Plates that are not subducting are driven by gravity sliding off the elevated mid ocean ridges a process called ridge push. Theory that lithospheric plates move and interact.

The north american and eurasian tectonic plates for example are separated by the mid atlantic ridge. What analogy did wegener use to describe how continents move through the ocean floor. American pacific african eurasian australian indian and antarctic. The lithosphere is broken up into seven very large continental and ocean sized plates six or seven medium sized regional plates and several small ones.

The motivating force for seafloor spreading ridges is tectonic plate slab pull at subduction zones rather than magma pressure although there is typically significant magma activity at spreading ridges. Briefly describe the view most geologists had about ocean basins and continents prior to the 1960s. These plates move relative to each other typically at rates of 5 to 10 cm 2 to 4 inches per year and interact along their boundaries where they converge diverge or slip past one another.