Each of Earth’s tectonic plates has its own history

Source: The post is based on the article “Each of Earth’s tectonic plates has its own history” published in The Times of India on 8^th April 2023.

Syllabus: GS 1 – Geography

Relevance: geographical features of the Earth.

News: The article discusses various geographical feature of the Earth.

What is a mantle?

It is the layer between the crust and the core at Earth’s centre. The mantle is solid rock and composes the majority of the volume of our planet. This rock is slowly convecting, like a boiling pot of water.

Motions of the rock over very long periods of time are closely tied to the movement of tectonic plates on Earth’s surface. Such plate motions then give us earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

What are the effects of tectonic plate movements?

Tectonic plate system with plates moving all over, collide, rip apart and modify lithosphere.

The Himalayan Mountain range was caused by the collision of the Indian plate with Eurasia. The force which built up this range caused the lithosphere and crust to thicken. Currently, India is moving north at a rate of 3.5 cm each year.

What are the effects of gravity?

Gravity acts on plates and can cause mountain ranges over tens of millions of years to very slowly collapse. Gravity operates deep beneath Earth to remove elements of the lithosphere.

In certain locations, small pieces that are cold and thick in comparison to the mantle drop off the bottom due to gravity. This is a process of modifying the lithosphere.

What is a subduction zone?

Under this, the oceanic part of the tectonic plates gets recycled back into the mantle.

The oceanic crust gets formed at mid-ocean ridges and destroyed and recycled at a subduction zone, where one oceanic plate sinks into the mantle. The driving force is gravity. 

This is a way Earth recycles material from its surface to its interior and vice versa.

A lot of Earth’s carbon cycle is controlled by subduction. Carbon also gets locked into limestone rocks which are absorbed back into Earth’s interior. Subduction zones are the prime sites for geologic hazards like earthquakes and tsunamis.

Which part of India is more vulnerable to earthquakes?

Many regions become prone to earthquakes because of tectonic plates. The northern part of India and its surrounding countries are more vulnerable as they are located on a major plate boundary where quakes occur.

People in such zones should be prepared with sustainable building, resilient infrastructure and keeping emergency communications and aid measures ready and handy to minimize damage.

Must Read: Lessons from Turkey: How to make India earthquake prepared

Source: The Times of India