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On 8 September 2014, NASA reported finding evidence of plate tectonics on Europa, a satellite of Jupiter—the first sign of subduction activity on another world other than Earth. [107] Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, was reported to show tectonic activity in images taken by the Huygens probe, which landed on Titan on January 14, 2005. [108]
The relative movement of the plates typically ranges from zero to 10 cm annually. Faults tend to be geologically active, experiencing earthquakes, volcanic activity, mountain-building, and oceanic trench formation. Tectonic plates are composed of the oceanic lithosphere and the thicker continental lithosphere, each topped by its own kind of crust.
Cartoon of a tectonic collision between two continents. In geology, continental collision is a phenomenon of plate tectonics that occurs at convergent boundaries.Continental collision is a variation on the fundamental process of subduction, whereby the subduction zone is destroyed, mountains produced, and two continents sutured together.
Simplified diagram of a convergent boundary. A convergent boundary (also known as a destructive boundary) is an area on Earth where two or more lithospheric plates collide. . One plate eventually slides beneath the other, a process known as subduct
This paradoxically results in divergence which was only incorporated in the theory of plate tectonics in 1970, but still results in net destruction when summed over major plate boundaries. [2] Divergent boundaries are areas where plates move away from each other, forming either mid-ocean ridges or rift valleys. These are also known as ...
Map of the principal tectonic plates of the Earth. The sixteen major pieces of crust and uppermost mantle of the Earth, called the lithosphere, and consisting of oceanic and continental crust.
Schematic diagram showing the physical processes inside the Earth that lead to the generation of magma. Partial melting begins above the fusion point. Map showing approximate location of many current hotspots and the relationship to current tectonic plates and their boundaries and movement vectors
The persistence of net tectonic divergence away from Africa and the Pacific for the past 250 myr indicates the long-term stability of this general mantle flow pattern [20] and is consistent with other studies [21] [22] [23] that suggest long-term stability of the large low-shear-velocity provinces of the lowermost mantle that form the base of ...