Themes > Science > Astronomy > The Solar System > The Solar System > The Earth > Consequences of Plate Tectonics


Past and future consequences of plate tectonics for the Earth's surface are enormous.

Some Past and Present Consequences

Plate tectonics has been responsible for many of the features that we find on the surface of the Earth today. A few examples include
  • The Appalachian Mountains were formed from wrinkling of the Earth's surface produced by the collision of the North American and African plates.
  • The seismic and volcanic activity of the West Coast of the United States (for example, the San Andreas Fault) is produced by the grinding of the Pacific and North American Plates against each other. Indeed, the entire "ring of fire" around the Pacific, corresponding to regions of high volcanic and seismic activity, is caused primarly by the motion of the Pacific Plate.
  • The Dead Sea in Israel is part of a rift system produced by plates that are pulling apart in that region.
  • The Himalayan Mountains were formed (indeed are still growing) as a result of the Indian subplate burrowing under the Eurasian plate and raising its edge.

Some Future Consequences of Plate Tectonics

Plate tectonics is still an active process, and will drastically reshape the face of the Earth over the next 50 million years or so. A few consequences of plate tectonics based on projections of present motion include:
  • Portions of California will separate from the rest of North America.
  • The Italian "boot" will disappear.
  • Australia will become linked to Asia.
  • Africa will separate from the Near East.
As a consequence of plate tectonics (supplemented by wind and water erosion), we live on the surface of a geologically active planet that has obliterated most of its early geological history.


Information supplied by: http://csep10.phys.utk.edu