New Map of Earth’s Tectonic Plates
Recently a new map of Earth’s tectonic plates has been released to help understand earthquakes and volcanoes.
The study, titled New maps of global geological provinces and tectonic plates, delved into the past construction of continents like the first supercontinent, Vaalbara.
Vaalbara fragmented to form other supercontinents over the years, the last being Pangea, which existed some 335-65 million years ago.
Pangea again gave way to the seven modern continents which make the earth’s land surface today.
Plate tectonics is a scientific theory. It describes how major landforms are formed as a result of the internal motions of the Earth.
The plate tectonics model was updated in the year 2003. Researchers have pieced together three geological models to create the new map.
- Plate Model: It is based on the existing knowledge of plate boundaries.
- Province Model: It is based on the geology of the Earth’s surface.
- Orogeny Model: It is based on mountain formation process. When two tectonic plates collide, the process of mountain formation begins.
Several new micro-plates have been added to the new plate model, including the Macquarie micro-plate. The Macquarie Micro-plate is located in the south of Tasmania. The capricorn micro-plate separates the Indian and Australian plates.
Significance:
- It provides a better understanding of natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanoes that occur near plate boundaries.
- Discovery of minerals and provides a better understanding of the evolution of the Earth.
Source – The Hindu
