Oh honey, that's an easy one. It's called a tectonic plate. These bad boys are like the movers and shakers of the Earth's crust, sliding around on the asthenosphere like they own the place. They're responsible for all the fun stuff like earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain-building.
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The section of the lithosphere that slowly moves over the asthenosphere carrying pieces of continental and oceanic crust is known as a tectonic plate. These plates are part of the Earth's outer shell and are divided into several major and minor plates that interact with each other at plate boundaries. The movement of these plates is driven by the heat generated from the Earth's core, causing them to either converge, diverge, or slide past each other, leading to various geological phenomena such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain formation.
A tectonic plate is a section of the lithosphere that moves over the asthenosphere, carrying pieces of continental and oceanic crust. These plates interact at their boundaries, leading to various geological events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building.
Together the crust and upper mantle are called the lithosphere and they extend about 80 km deep. The lithosphere is broken into giant plates that fit around the globe like puzzle pieces.
A section of the Earth's crust that moves is a "tectonic plate". Tectonic plates can include continental crust or oceanic crust.
Oceanic lithosphere is denser and cooler than continental lithosphere, making it more prone to subduction. As oceanic lithosphere descends into the mantle at subduction zones, it creates a trench and can trigger volcanic activity. Continental lithosphere, being less dense and thicker, tends to be buoyant and is typically too buoyant to be subducted.
No, oceanic lithosphere contains more mafic rocks compared to continental lithosphere. Oceanic lithosphere is mainly composed of basalt, which is a mafic rock, whereas continental lithosphere is composed of a variety of rock types, including granitic rocks which are more felsic in composition.
Oceanic plates are denser and thinner, composed mainly of basalt, and are found beneath the oceans. Continental plates are less dense and thicker, composed mainly of granite, and form the continents. Oceanic plates are usually subducted beneath continental plates at convergent plate boundaries.
Slab Pull Force occurs when a denser oceanic plate is forced beneath a less dense continental plate or oceanic plate in a process called subduction. It's the force caused by suction of the cold dense lithosphere into the asthenosphere at destructive margins. Basically, because lithosphere is denser than asthenosphere, there is gravitational imbalance which is passed on to the crust. this causes the lithosphere to be sucked inwards at the oceanic trenches into deep asthenosphere.
Oceanic lithosphere is denser than continental lithosphere, so it is more likely to be subducted during a collision. The downward force exerted by the dense oceanic plate causes it to sink beneath the less dense continental plate. Furthermore, oceanic lithosphere is typically thinner and more malleable, making it easier to be forced beneath the continental lithosphere.