Answer:
Plate tectonic theory is based on the hypothesis that the outer layer of the planet, or lithosphere, is divided into large portions or plates that are in relative motion, one with respect to another. As a result of these movements, tremors, volcanic activity, the formation of mountains, the formation of new continents and their drift are generated.
Explanation:
The movements of the tectonic plates are the origin of the changes in the distribution of the continents, the appearance of mountains, volcanism, earthquakes and the evolution of the oceans. Due to the fact that the displacement of the plates occurs on a spherical surface, this dynamic is an endless story: the tectonic plates are recycling in a continuous way, slowly in time, modifying the disposition of the earth's crust in millions of years. Some plates move away due to the oceanic ridges, others subduct until they reach the mantle and melt again. In this way the plates remain, unite, fragment. Oceans and mountains are born, oceans close and continents unite. This dynamic is what has determined that the continents have changed their distribution over time. This cycle has been repeated continuously for millions of years, throughout the geological history of the Earth. On the different continents there are traces of this continuous constant dynamics, which recycles and originates crust for millions of years, evidenced by the remains of the oceanic crust trapped within old collision zones. The presence of volcanoes is associated with the edges of the tectonic plates, reaffirming what the theory of plate tectonics indicates that the earth's crust is not uniform, but is made up of plates of different sizes that move slowly by convection currents produced in the mantle as occurs in the subduction zones at the converging edges or in the mid-ocean ridges at the diverging edges. Volcanoes emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, materials emitted during volcanic eruptions can remain suspended in the atmosphere causing a filtration of solar radiation and, consequently, a reduction in regional or global temperature.
