The movements of plate tectonics can be predicted based on their current rate and direction of movement (using present day GPS tracking and geological-timescale modeling). We can look at how plates have moved and interacted in the past and make reliable models to describe their future movements. The Pacific Ocean is slowly being eaten away by a series of subduction zones surrounding it, so it's possible that Australia/Asia will eventually collide with the west coast of the Americas in the distant future and the opening Atlantic will become much wider than it is now.
No one is able to predict with pinpoint accuracy the position of the Earth's tectonic plates at a specific point in the distant future. In the short term (<100 million years), however, it is a pretty sure thing that the Atlantic Ocean will get bigger, and that the Pacific Ocean will get smaller.
There are seven tectonic plates depicted in this setting.
Mt Eyjafjallajökull (whew!) is on 2 different tectonic plates.
Underground plates are called tectonic plates. These plates are large pieces of the Earth's lithosphere that move and interact with each other, causing phenomena such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
The lithosphere is the layer that moves with the tectonic plates. The lithosphere is made up of the crust and the upper part of the mantle, and it is broken into tectonic plates that move and interact with each other.
They are called tectonic or lithospheric plates.
Tectonic plates and fault lines created by the movement of tectonic plates.
Tectonic plates are also "Continental Crust" and "Oceanic Crust". Also lithospheric plates.
Yes, tectonic plates are also known as crustal plates.
No one is able to predict with pinpoint accuracy the position of the Earth's tectonic plates at a specific point in the distant future. In the short term (<100 million years), however, it is a pretty sure thing that the Atlantic Ocean will get bigger, and that the Pacific Ocean will get smaller.
harry hess named the tectonic plates but I'm not sure why =/
there are 7 huge plates but dozens of smaller plates
Continental plates are tectonic plates. They are tectonic plates upon which continents rest, and they move as do all tectonic plates. Basically, there is no difference, other than the fact that oceanic plates are another type of tectonic plate.
Yes. Tectonic plates are in fact mostly solid.
No the tectonic plates are on top of the crust.
The tectonic plates float on the lithosphere. This overlies the asthenosphere.
Interactions between tectonic plates occur at plate boundaries.