Question

A plate moving at a rate of 3 cm/year is moving toward a plate that is 1,500 km away. In how many years will the plates collide?

Answer 1

Answer:

The plates will collide in 50,000,000 years.

Explanation:

The tectonic plates are constantly moving. Their movement results in some of them to collide, thus to form convergent plate boundaries. In this case, we have two plates that are relatively far away and the movement is about the average. In order to find out how many years will be needed for the plates to collide we need to:

• convert the km into cm
• divide the distance (in cm) between the plates with the rate of movement of the plate

1 km = 100,000 cm

100,000 x 1,500 = 150,000,000 cm

150,000,000 / 3 = 50,000,000 years

We get a result of 50 million years, meaning the plates will collide in this much time, which in geological terms is actually not that long.