Continental Drift Theory: Understanding our Changing Earth

Plate Tectonics is the theory used to explain the structure of the Earth’s crust and many of the associated phenomena. The rigid lithosphere is split into 7 major ‘plates’ that slowly move on top of the underlying asthenosphere (mantle). This branch of geology studies the faulting and folding of the crust along the various boundaries; convergent, divergent, subduction, and conservative. The concept of Plate Tectonics was first coined by the German geophysicist Alfred Wegener back in 1915, but several ideas of continental drift date back many years before. Today we almost take for granted our knowledge of how the Earth’s crust shifts and regenerates on a continual cycle; but the theory of plate tectonics wasn’t widely accepted until the 1960s!

Learn about Earth’s alterations at:
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/continental-drift-theory/

Image source before editing:
NASA