Plate Tectonics

Plate Tectonics, NASA: Public Domain

In this topic, you learned that plates move due to thermal convection in the asthenosphere. Plate tectonics discusses the various processes of plate movement and the features of the Earth's land and oceans that result from each motion.

Plates either collide, separate, or slide past one another. In some cases, magma melts through the plate to create new islands.