Summary:
- Scientists have determined the direction that each plate is moving.
- Plates move around the Earth’s surface at a rate of a few centimeters a year.
- Mantle convection drives seafloor spreading.
- Upwelling mantle at the mid-ocean ridge pushes plates outward.
- Cold lithosphere sinking into the mantle at a subduction zone pulls the rest of the plate down with it.
- Use the resource below to answer the questions that follow.
- For example, what would the Earth look like without the biosphere and atmosphere?