Material Detail

Although it feels solid and hard beneath our feet, the outer surface of the Earth is a thin crust of fragile rock, fractured like the cracked shell of an egg. The pieces of the shell are Earth's tectonic plates -- there are 12 major ones -- and they float across a layer of soft rock like rafts in a stream, their motions driven by forces generated deep in the Earth. At their boundaries, the plates spread apart, converge, and slide past one another.

This will delete the comment from the database. This operation is not reversible. Are you sure you want to do it?

Thank you for reporting a broken "Go to Material" link in MERLOT to help us maintain a collection of valuable learning materials.

If you feel this material is inappropriate for the MERLOT Collection, please click SEND REPORT, and the MERLOT Team will investigate. Thank you!

You are being taken to the material on another site. This will open a new window.

Do not show me this again