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plate tectonics
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Earth's tectonic plates
What is the theory of continental drift?
Earth's lithosphere and upper mantle crustal generation and destruction
Discern between body and surface waves, primary and secondary waves, and Love and Rayleigh waves
Earth's core
Examine how the theory of plate tectonics explains volcanic activity, earthquakes, and mountains
plate movement rift valley in Thingvellir National Park age of Earth's oceanic crust
For Students
plate tectonics summary
Quizzes
Cross section of Earth showing the core, mantle, and crust
Everything Earth
Cross section of Earth showing the core, mantle, and crust
The Solid Earth Quiz
Related Questions
Read Next
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When the downward-moving slab reaches a depth of about 100 km (60 miles), it gets sufficiently warm to drive off its most volatile components, thereby stimulating partial melting of mantle in the plate above the subduction zone (known as the mantle wedge). Melting in the mantle wedge produces magma, which is predominantly basaltic in composition. This magma rises to the surface and gives birth to a line of volcanoes in the overriding plate, known as a volcanic arc, typically a few hundred kilometres behind the oceanic trench. The distance between the trench and the arc, known as the arc-trench gap, ...(100 of 14904 words)

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