Title
Preview
Description
Several huge, moving and shifting crustal plates carry Earth's small continents about. These plates, of which the continents are the raised portions, are part of Earth's lithosphere, which includes Earth's crust and the top rigid layer of its mantle. The lithosphere overlays a deeper "plastic" layer of inner Earth, where high temperature and pressure prevent rocks from solidifying.
Plate movement continually generates fresh lithosphere as molten rock erupts at mid-ocean ridges. Oceanic plate margins are drawn into the mantle and melt at continental edges. As these processes cycle, continents move together and pull apart, oceans shrink and expand, plates collide and form mountain ranges, and island chains appear and vanish.
Date Created
1997
Holding Institution
University of Montana--Missoula. Environmental Studies Program
Rights Statement
Rights Holder
© 1997 Stiftung Drittes Millennium
Item Type
Exhibit
Digital File Format
image/jpeg
Media Type
Text; Image
Digital Image Number
20_wtt_file02_20-39.jpg
Recommended Citation
Liebes, Sid; Mittelstadt, Laurie; Waugh, Barbara; and Brynes, Lois, "Panel 20: Earth Moves On" (1997). A Walk Through Time - From Stardust To Us. 20.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/awalkthroughtime/20