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In the 1990s, it was proposed that Martian Crustal Dichotomy was created by plate tectonic processes. [104] Scientists have since determined that it was created either by upwelling within the Martian mantle that thickened the crust of the Southern Highlands and formed Tharsis [105] or by a giant impact that excavated the Northern Lowlands. [106]
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.
Subduction of the Nazca plate beneath the South American plate to form the Andes. Subduction of the Pacific plate beneath the Australian plate and Tonga plate, forming the complex New Zealand to New Guinea subduction/transform boundaries. Collision of the Eurasian plate and the African plate formed the Pontic Mountains in Turkey.
Continental-continental divergent/constructive boundary Oceanic divergent boundary: mid-ocean ridge (cross-section/cut-away view). In plate tectonics, a divergent boundary or divergent plate boundary (also known as a constructive boundary or an extensional boundary) is a linear feature that exists between two tectonic plates that are moving away from each other.
Back-arc basins can form from extension in the overriding plate, in response to the displacement of the subducting slab at some oceanic trenches. 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]
Plate tectonics was a suitable explanation for seafloor spreading, and the acceptance of plate tectonics by the majority of geologists resulted in a major paradigm shift in geological thinking. It is estimated that along Earth's mid-ocean ridges every year 2.7 km 2 (1.0 sq mi) of new seafloor is formed by this process. [50]
Plate tectonics (from Latin tectonicus, from Ancient Greek τεκτονικός (tektonikós) 'pertaining to building') is the scientific theory that Earth's lithosphere comprises a number of large tectonic plates, which have been slowly moving since 3–4 billion years ago.
Mid-ocean ridge – Basaltic underwater mountain system formed by plate tectonic spreading; Pit crater – Depression formed by a sinking or collapse of the surface lying above a void or empty chamber; Pyroclastic shield – Shield volcano formed mostly of pyroclastic and highly explosive eruptions; Resurgent dome – Volcanic landform