Monday, February 7, 2011

Plate Tectonics

The main force that shapes our planet’s surface over long amounts of time is the movement of Earth's outer layer by the process of plate tectonics.
This picture shows how the rigid outer layer of the Earth, called the lithosphere, is made of plates which fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. These plates are made of rock, but the rock is, in general, lightweight compared with the denser, fluid layer underneath. This allows the plates to "float" on top of the denser material.
The main force that shapes our planet’s surface over long amounts of time is the movement of Earth.

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