plate tectonics: Media
geology
Videos
Learn more about the theory of continental drift.
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
The shifting rock in an earthquake causes vibrations called seismic waves that travel...
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
A general discussion of plate tectonics.
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Marie Tharp was an American geologist and oceanographer famous for helping to create...
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
A discussion of some of the evidence supporting continental drift on Earth.
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
A time-lapse representation of Earth changing through geologic time, from the late...
Video: Adapted from C.R. Scotese, The University of Texas at Arlington
An expedition seeking hydrothermal vents in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
Video: University College Cork, Ireland (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
The land on Earth is constantly moving. Over millions of years, the continents broke...
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
The roles that convection currents and other forces play in the movement of Earth's...
Video: © MinuteEarth (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
John P. Rafferty, biological and earth science editor of Encyclopædia Britannica,...
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
At the margins of Earth's plates, where two plates pull apart or one plate dives...
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Images
Map showing Earth's major tectonic plates with arrows depicting the directions of...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
A cross section of Earth's outer layers, from the crust through the lower mantle.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Three-dimensional diagram showing crustal generation and destruction according to...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
The internal layers of Earth's core, including its two inner cores.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Theoretical diagram showing the effects of an advancing tectonic plate on other adjacent,...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
The Thingvellir fracture zone at Thingvellir National Park in southwestern Iceland...
© Ihervas/Shutterstock.com
The age of Earth's oceanic crust can be presented to show the pattern of seafloor...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Volcanic eruptions may fall into six major types: Icelandic, Hawaiian, Strombolian,...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
A subducting plate's path (called the Benioff-Wadati [or Wadati-Benioff] zone) is...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
The trench “roll back” process of back-arc basin formation.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
The slab “sea anchor” process of back-arc basin formation.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Distribution of landmasses, mountainous regions, shallow seas, and deep ocean basins...
Adapted from: C.R. Scotese, The University of Texas at Arlington
The broad, gentle pitch of the continental shelf gives way to the relatively steep...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
At the San Andreas Fault in California, the North American Plate and the Pacific...
U.S. Geological Survey
The principal tectonic plates that make up Earth's lithosphere. Also located are...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
The world's earthquake zones occur in red bands and largely coincide with the boundaries...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Diagram depicting the process of atoll formation. Atolls are formed from the remnant...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Theoretical depiction of the movement of tectonic plates across Earth's surface....
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Leonhard Euler, c. 1740s. Euler was a Swiss mathematician and physicist known for...
Kean Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Among the first clues scientists discovered that supported the notions of continental...
C. Amante and B.W. Eakins (NOAA/NESDIS/NGDC)
Infographic showing evidence of submerged continents that formed and broke up during...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc./Kenny Chmielewski
The location of Earth's continents at various times between 225 million years ago...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
In this map depicting a portion of Gondwana (an ancient supercontinent that once...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Patterns of seafloor spreading in the Pacific (left), Arctic (centre), and Atlantic...
U.S. Dept. of Commerce/NOAA
Map showing the age of selected regions of the ocean floor. Chronological measurements...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Rising magma assumes the polarity of Earth's geomagnetic field before it solidifies...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
The weight of the subducted slab may drag the rest of the tectonic plate toward the...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
A three-dimensional slice of the geology of western Washington imaged with seismic...
USGS
Exotic biological communities exist near deep-sea vents; these ecosystems...
Photo courtesy of Dr. Monika Bright, Department of Marine Biology, University of Vienna, Austria
Nocturnal animals, such as opossums, have eyes with large, nearly spherical lenses.
© Geoffrey Kuchera/Dreamstime.com
Stratovolcanoes tend to form at subduction zones, or convergent plate margins, where...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
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