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The land below us is always in motion. Plate tectonics studies these restless effects to give us a better understanding of the Earth and its past. New molten rocks are poured out in the form of magma from the mid-ocean ridges. The rock is recy ....

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... have actually been reversed. Approximately 4.55 billion years ago, the Earth was just a ball of molten material. Since then, parts of the Earth have cooled forming the solid crust-mantle. This process has been occurring for roughly about 3.8 billion years. The mantle is about 2900 km. thick, which lies above a layer of molten magma that still exists today. The immense heat from the magma (approximately 2700(C) causes convection in the mantle (Figure 1). Convection is caused by non-uniform temperature in a fluid and density differences. This continuous convection is the cause of plate movement. Each complete cycle, called a convec ...