Tectonic Plates (AQA GCSE Geography): Revision Notes

1.2.1 Tectonic Plates

The Earth's Surface is Separated into Tectonic Plates

• The inner core is solid and outer liquid.
• Around the core is the mantle - semi-molten rock moving slowly.
• The outer layer is the crust and the crust is divided into slabs called tectonic plates.
  • These plates can be either continental or oceanic plates.
  • Where they meet is called a plate boundary/margin.
• The plates move due to convection currents in the mantle.

How do the Plates Move?

Tectonic Plates Movement

What are Convection Currents?

1. Heat rising and falling inside the mantle creates convection currents generated by radioactive decay in the core.
2. The convection currents move the plates.
3. Where convection currents diverge near the Earth's crust, plates move apart. Where convection currents converge, plates move towards each other.