EARTH SCIENCE
TECTONICS
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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They measure the amount of change in ocean depth using meter sticks.
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They collect data using submarines and deep-ocean robots.
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They detect motion using special equipment, such as GPS.
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They calculate the difference in the time it takes Earth to make one complete revolution around the Sun, and use this information to determine growth in plates.
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Detailed explanation-1: -Changes in the location of a GPS station are therefore caused by movement of the Earth’s surface. By comparing the motion of several GPS stations in a region over time, scientists can detect motion of tectonic plates and infer deformation of the Earth’s crust.
Detailed explanation-2: -Tectonic Plates By installing high accuracy GPS receivers on each plate, scientists can record the speed and direction that each plate is travelling in. Once installed, these receivers can operate for decades, allowing scientists to analyse any changes to the direction of each plate’s movement.
Detailed explanation-3: -Over the past ten or fifteen years, global positioning system satellite data has become an invaluable tool for measuring plate motion and strain accumulation across faults.
Detailed explanation-4: -Geodesy, the science of measuring the Earth’s shape and positions on it, allows the measurement of plate motion directly using GPS, the Global Positioning System. This network of satellites is more stable than the Earth’s surface, so when a whole continent moves somewhere at a few centimeters per year, GPS can tell.
Detailed explanation-5: -Evidence for Tectonic Plates Earthquakes, mountain building and volcanic activity occur mostly at the boundaries of the moving plates. Only shallow earthquakes occur where plates diverge at mid-ocean ridges, whereas earthquakes extend to great depth where plates converge at subduction zones.