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๐ Earth Science
Plate Tectonics
The 12 major tectonic plates carry continents and cause earthquakes, volcanoes and mountain building
Germany ๐ 1912 Earth Science
Key Facts
- 1
Alfred Wegener (1912): continental drift โ Pangaea broke apart 175 million years ago
- 2
Convergent (collision โ mountains, trenches), divergent (separation โ rift valleys, ridges), transform (lateral โ earthquakes)
- 3
Himalayas formed by Indian Plate colliding with Eurasian Plate; still rising ~5mm/year
๐ฌ Did you know? Alfred Wegener proposed continental drift in 1912 but was ridiculed; the theory was vindicated in the 1960s when seafloor spreading was discovered
Quick Reference
Category
Earth Science
Country
๐ Germany
Year / Era
1912
About
The 12 major tectonic plates carry continents and cause earthquakes, volcanoes and mountain building