Consequences of Plate Tectonics

Past and future consequences of plate tectonics for the Earth's surface are enormous.

Some Past and Present Consequences

Plate tectonics has been responsible for many of the features that we find on the surface of the Earth today. A few examples include:

• The Appalachian Mountains were formed from wrinkling of the Earth's surface produced by the collision of the North American and African plates.
• The seismic and volcanic activity of the West Coast of the United States (for example, the San Andreas Fault) is produced by the grinding of the Pacific and North American Plates against each other. Indeed, the entire "ring of fire" around the Pacific, corresponding to regions of high volcanic and seismic activity, is caused primarly by the motion of the Pacific Plate.
• The Dead Sea in Israel is part of a rift system produced by plates that are pulling apart in that region.
• The Himalayan Mountains were formed (indeed are still growing) as a result of the Indian subplate burrowing under the Eurasian plate and raising its edge.

Here are links to animations of the motion of continental plates for the last 750 million years.