Approximately how fast are the continents drifting
The continents are moving at about 15 millimetres per year - similar to the speed your fingernails grow. The continents are surrounded by oceans . These large bodies of water are located between the seven continents. The continents are too thick and old to enter!
The continents are still on the move, drifting apart at the rate of about an inch each year, typically spreading in mid-ocean. The movement, and all the bumping and grinding it causes as plates dive under continents, creates earthquakes , fuels volcanoes and builds mountains . The continents are not fixed permanently in location in the Earth’s crust, but are free to move about across the Earth’s crust. The continents are composed mainly of granitic rocks and measure an average of 25 mi (40 km) thick. Underlying the ocean are denser basaltic rocks measuring about 4 mi (7 km) thick.
The continents are composed mainly of granitic rocks and measure an average of 25 mi (40 km) thick. Underlying the ocean are denser basaltic rocks measuring about 4 mi (7 km) thick. The continents are made of lighter rocks that ride high on the moving plates. The moving plates move in different directions and at different speeds. The continents are covered by the sea when there is a lot of rifting going on, and they are emergent when the continents are in collision.
The continents are a different story. How did the continents originate, and how have they changed over time? The continents are carried along with the moving crustal plates. Unlike the original theory of continental drift, today there is strong specific evidence for the plate tectonics hypothesis. The continents are made of a granite-like rock, a mixture of silicon and aluminum. The ocean floor is basalt rock, a mixture of silicon and magnesium.
india
India charged across the equator at rates of up to 15 cm/year, in the process closing an ocean named Tethys that had separated fragments of Pangea. This ocean is entirely gone today, although the sedimentary rocks that settled on its ocean floor and the volcanoes that fringed its edges remain to tell the tale of its existence. Indiana is a good example of places on the earth that are tectonically quiet. India is geologically a continent; it is colliding with Asia creating the Himalayas. Africa is moving northward pushing Italy into the Alps and the Mediterranean Sea is getting smaller very slowly.
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