What Is Plate Tectonics?

The theory of plate tectonics is based on the theory of continental drift and seafloor expansion. According to this new theory, the earth's surface is covered with relatively stable plates (lithospheric circles) inside, and these plates are indeed moving at a speed of 1 to 10 cm per year.

In 1968, the University of Cambridge

What force drives the plate to move in accordance with

With the movement of the stratosphere, the corresponding horizontal movement of each plate will also occur. Geologists estimate that large plates can move a distance of 1-6 cm per year.

Although this speed is small, after hundreds of millions of years, the earth's land and sea will change dramatically: when the two plates gradually separate, new depressions and oceans will appear at the separation; the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Rift Valley of East Africa It was formed when the two large plates separated. When the two large plates come close to each other and collide, the tall and steep mountains will be squeezed where the collision closes. Located in the Southwest Frontier of China

Almost all earthquakes are distributed on the boundary of the plate, and volcanoes are especially near the boundary. Others, such as rifting, magma rise, heat flow increase, large-scale horizontal displacement, etc., also occur on the boundary line, and crustal subduction is a collision. One of the important signs of boundary division; it can be seen that the plate boundary is an extremely unstable zone of the earth's crust.

Plate driving mechanism

Although various possible scenarios have been proposed, such as

Problems and errors 1:

Where did the original crust go?

According to the theory of plate growth and death, the Atlantic and Indian Oceans are expanding to the east and west. In the south of the Atlantic Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean expands more than 3,000 kilometers from the mid-ridge to the east, because the Atlantic Ocean is more than 6,000 kilometers wide. The Indian Ocean has expanded more than 3,000 kilometers westward. The two are more than 6000 kilometers in total. Where did the original 6,000 kilometers wide crust go?

The Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean expanded southward, causing the Antarctica plate to move to its current Antarctic position. So where did the original Antarctica crust go?

Problems and errors 2:

The direction of the ridge expansion and the collision of the plates are contradictory. How to explain?

The Indian Ocean ridge is "in", the northern ridge is north-south, and there are two secondary north-south ridges running in parallel. The ocean expands from the ridge to both sides, that is, the north of the Indian Ocean expands from east to west.

So how could the Indian Ocean plate collide northward with the Eurasian plate? How did the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau rise?

Problems and errors 3:

The bottom terrain does not match the expansion of the bottom, how to explain?

The point of the plate theory is that the oceanic crust is formed by the oceanic ridges expanding to both sides. The already formed terrain of the oceanic ridge will not disappear, and will spread to the sides as the oceanic ridge expands to both sides. According to this theory, the topography of the ocean floor should be all ridges.

The sea floor map clearly indicates that the mid-ocean ridge is located at the center of the ocean, and the mid-ridge is flanked by ocean basins. How did the Ocean Basin form? Oceanic terrain denies plate theory.

Problems and errors 4:

How did the ridges of the two oceans expand?

The mid-Atlantic ridge and the Indian Ocean mid-ridge are connected in a "" shape. The outward expansion of the two mid-ocean ridges is "confrontational."

In the Indian Ocean, the mid-ocean ridges are connected in an in shape, and the outward expansion directions of the two mid-ocean ridges are also confrontational.

How to expand outward?

Problems and errors 5:

How can we explain the existence of two trenches on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean?

Atlantic Puerto Rico Trench: The deepest is 9,219 meters, located in the northern Atlantic Ocean, 9218 kilometers north of Puerto Rico Island, about 1,550 kilometers long, and an average width of 120 kilometers.
Atlantic New Hebrides Trench: The deepest 9174 meters, located on the edge of the coral sea between Vanuatu (New Hebrides) and New Caledonia. It is about 1200 kilometers long and has an average width of 70 kilometers.

The theory of the plate theory is that the oceanic plate was born from the mid-ocean ridge, then expanded to the sides and proliferated, subducted under the continental plate and died out.

With the mid-Atlantic ridge as the boundary, the western Atlantic is divided into North America and North America and South America into the plate of the Americas. So how to explain the two Atlantic trenches?

Problems and errors 6:

At the confluence of two mid-ocean ridges, how do they convect?

The plate movement mechanism of the plate theory is thermal convection. A convection mechanism can be drawn on the mid-ocean ridge. So how does convection occur at the intersection of two mid-ocean ridges?

The plate theory explains that the thermal energy of thermal convection comes from the heat of metabolizing radioactive elements. The question is, where do so many radioactive elements come from? The radioactive element deposits now found are rocks with high radioactive elements, which are solid. In addition, if the heat generated by the transformation of radioactive elements forms magma to generate convection, the elements generated by the transformation should be in the magma, and the magma ejected from the mid-ocean ridge should contain these degenerating elements. No related reports were seen. ^[3]