Part 1
Question 1
Tectonic plate motion refers to the movement of continental and oceanic plates from one place to another due to the effect of forces that generally act on these plates. These movements cause some effects to the surrounding environment and even to the earth surface in general. A scientist by the name of Wegner had earlier on formulated a theory that instituted some of the facts and evidence backing this presence of continental drift that had happened some time back in history (Runcorn, 2013).
Furthermore, the critical evidence in support of continental drift is the jigsaw fitness of continental coastal boundaries within the coast boundaries. Consider for example the southeastern coastal boundary of South America and that of the southwestern section of Africa. The two boundaries seem to have been together some time back and only owed their separation to continental drift.
Secondly is the evidence of similar characteristics of rocks present in some parts of the earth surface believed to have been together some time back. The rocks tend to have similar physical and chemical characteristics just as their counterparts in other parts of the world even though they are millions of kilometers from each other.
The third form evidence tends to support that the world or rather all the earth’s blocks were once together is the fossil fuels. In particular, the fossil fuels and remains of life at one particular region are found to be the same as in other completely different region which is far away from it but situated in another block which was claimed to have been together once in history.
Question 2
Meanwhile, the continental drift theory turned out after some time to be the tectonic plate theory, but it had almost the same content of the information as the continental drift theory. The only probable difference between the two types of theories is the addition of some modernized and updated information included in the tectonic plate’s theory. However, there some additional evidence that tends to back up the theory of tectonic plate movement specifically. The very first evidence in support of the tectonic plate theory is the fossil fuel evidence in which similar categories of fossil and animal remains were available different regions of the globe in regions once believed to have been together.
The second proof in support of the plate tectonic movement is the Paleomagnetism that states that the earth’s North Pole keeps on changing from time to time (Runcorn, 2013). Over the last various years, the earth’s magnetic North had changed drastically owing to the changing in position of the tectonic plates which are always in slow constant motion. The plates which were once thought to have been in contact some several years ago will still maintain the same magnetic North no matter the distance which separates the given plates (Oreskes, 2013)). Whenever scientists found similar magnetic north within two distant apart continental plates, it will be appropriate to claim that such plates were once in contact with each other.
Part 2
Question 1
The motion of tectonic plates will in one way or the other affect the climate of a region. For instance, tectonic plates will cause a rise in temperatures within the surrounding environment that will consequently lead to very dangerous phenomenon such as global warming. Ideally, tectonic plate’s movement will expose some of the hottest components or rather substances from within the earth’s mantle that will add up the heat in circulation. The heat released to the environment will have a drastic increase in temperature of the environment and could probably lead to an increase in temperatures that could then result in global warming and by extension causes the ice to melt and negatively influence the environment.
Question 2
The motion of tectonic plates will also affect the geography of the regions in question in that a lot of motion and changes in the general positioning of the earth’s services. Tectonic motion causes volcanoes whenever there are presences of divergent boundaries, which will expose the earth’s internal mantle and matures into a fully pledged volcano (Cas & Wright p. 377, 2012). The tectonic motion also causes the presence of ridges and synclines that are responsible for the deformation and formation of geographic features.
Question 3
Tectonic motion causes uneven distribution of organisms across the globe especially animals that have been occupying the same place at some point in history portray similar characteristics. For example, animals found in the coastal regions of the southern part of South America portray similar characteristics as those found on the southwestern coast of Africa. Tectonic motion has been responsible for the diversified spread of animals, which had ended up adapting to the climate and weather conditions of the respective regions, which they reside on.
Part 3
Question 1
Earthquakes are one of the various features that usually arise from the activities of tectonic motion, and they mostly result from colliding or rather grinding of huge tectonic plates (Merali, Skinner, Strahler, Strahler, Géographe & Strahler, 2009). Once there is rubbing of tectonic plates, they will induce stresses and pressure within the earth’s surface that will translate to seismic waves (Merali, Skinner, Strahler, Strahler, Géographe & Strahler p. 7, 2009). The seismic waves are the ones responsible for the formation of the earthquake on the surface of the earth.
Question 2
Volcanoes likewise also come up in a more like manner as the earthquake in that the grinding of huge tectonic plates will cause cracks on the earth surface that will expose the magma to the outer surface (Cas & Wright, 2012). The explosion of magma to the Earth surface will result in the formation of volcanoes hence the different categories of volcanoes will result accordingly.
Question 3
The tectonic motion will also cause tsunamis in the oceans once the plates collide with each other they will trigger a stream of waves that will travel through the water hence causing ripples in the water (Molnar & Tapponnier, 1975). The ripples will accumulate and combine to form oceanic waves that will then mature into tides and tsunamis.
References
Cas, R., & Wright, J. V. (2012). Volcanic successions modern and ancient: A geological approach to processes, products and successions. Springer Science & Business Media.
Merali, Z., Skinner, B. J., Strahler, A. H., Strahler, A. H., Géographe, E. U., & Strahler, A. H. (2009). Visualizing Earth Science. J. Wiley & Sons.
Molnar, P., & Tapponnier, P. (1975). Cenozoic tectonics of Asia: effects of a continental collision. Science, 189(4201), 419-426.
Oreskes, N. (2013). How plate tectonics clicked. Nature, 501(7465), 27-29.
Runcorn, S. K. (Ed.). (2013). Continental drift (Vol. 3). Elsevier.
