Have you ever experienced an earthquake or watched a volcanic eruption on the news? If not, it might be hard to imagine that the ground is constantly moving beneath you as plates of the Earth's crust slide over molten lava. Usually, the plates are moving only about as fast as your fingernails grow, but even the slowest movement can eventually cause enormous changes. Over time, Earth's shifting plates have created mountain ranges and canyons - they have even separated continents....
More DescriptionHave you ever experienced an earthquake or watched a volcanic eruption on the news? If not, it might be hard to imagine that the ground is constantly moving beneath you as plates of the Earth's crust slide over molten lava. Usually, the plates are moving only about as fast as your fingernails grow, but even the slowest movement can eventually cause enormous changes. Over time, Earth's shifting plates have created mountain ranges and canyons - they have even separated continents. Well-known science writers Alvin and Virginia Silverstein and Laura Silverstein Nunn explain the theory of plate tectonics and how moving plates can cause some of the scariest natural disasters: earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis. the authors also explore how plate tectonics are changing our planet, and how they could affect our future on Earth.