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One suggestion for the cause of plate tectonics is mantle convection which is the result of cooling and heating magma. You could think of mantle convection much in the same way lava flows in a lava lamp. Lava rises in a lava lamp because it heats up and becomes less dense. While at the top of the lava lamp, the heated lava begins to cool (because it's further away from the heat source (e.g. light) at the bottom) becoming more dense and then sinks back down to the original heat source where it will be reheated.

This mantle convection is thought to work somewhat like a large conveyor belt in which the plates sit, moving them along.

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Angela Veum

Lvl 13
3y ago

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