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Exploratour - The Surface of the Earth

This is a schematic showing the speed (in the numbers indicated at cm/year) at which the plates slip past each other. Some move faster than others.
Click on image for full size
The American Geophysical Union. Further reproduction is prohibited.

The Earth's Moving Plates

One might wonder how the plates can move on the surface of the Earth at that rate. The plates seem to be sufficiently slippery that they can "slip" past each other with ease. It is only when the plates are not sufficiently slippery, and have gotten stuck against each other, that an earthquake occurs.

It is only when the forces driving plates past each other build up sufficiently to "break" the plates apart, that the plates can rebound in an earthquake. Earthquakes can move sections of a plate several feet at once rather than the gradual centimeter or so which is their normal slip rate. The picture to the left gives the speeds at which the some of the plates slide past each other. Click on the image to the left to bring up the full size picture.

Last modified August 17, 2006 by Lisa Gardiner.

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Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information.

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