Although convection in the asthenosphere is widely accepted as the cause of plate movements, it may be that the weight of down-going lithosphere in subduction zones pulls the trailing plate behind it. This is true because plates at our planet's surface move because of the intense heat in the Earth's core that causes molten rock in the mantle layer to move, It moves in a pattern called a convection cell that forms when warm material rises, cools, and eventually sink down.
