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imagine the earth beneath your feet is
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constantly moving so slowly you can't
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feel it but with the power to build
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mountains split continents and trigger
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earthquakes sounds like science fiction
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right but it's real and it's all thanks
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to the incredible force of tectonic
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plate movement tectonic plate movement
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is the engine behind continental drift
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the process that explains how continents
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have shifted their positions over
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millions of years it all started with a
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bold idea in the early 20th century when
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Alfred Wagner proposed that continents
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weren't fixed in place he noticed that
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the coastlines of South America and
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Africa seemed to fit together like
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puzzle pieces add in similar fossils and
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rock formations found on both sides of
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the Atlantic and his theory of
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continental drift began to take shape of
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course back then Wagner didn't have the
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scientific tools to prove his idea but
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decades later with the discovery of mid
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ocean ridges and seafloor spreading
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scientists confirmed that Earth's outer
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shell is made up of massive plates that
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float on a molten layer below these
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tectonic plates are always moving pushed
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and pulled by the heat churning deep
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within the planet there are several
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types of plate boundaries and each one
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has a unique effect on the landscape at
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divergent boundaries plates move apart
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creating new crust as magma rises this
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is how the Atlantic Ocean keeps getting
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wider at convergent boundaries plates
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collide and one can be forced beneath
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the other in a process called subduction
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which often leads to volcanic activity
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and mountain building then there are
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transformed boundaries where plates
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slide past each other causing stress to
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build until it's released in the form of
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earthquakes but tectonic movement isn't
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just about geology it tells the story of
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Earth's past and shapes its future it
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explains why similar species of
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dinosaurs were found on different
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continents it shows us how the Himalayas
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are still rising today and it warns us
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about the risks of living along fault
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Andreas so why should you care about
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rocks moving at the speed your
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fingernails grow because this slow dance
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beneath the surface has shaped
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everything we see mountains valleys
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oceans and even the climate
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understanding it not only unravels
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Earth's history but helps us prepare for
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natural disasters find valuable
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resources and appreciate the dynamic
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home next time you look at a world map
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think about this those continents didn't
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start where they are now and they won't
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stay there forever can you imagine where
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Earth's plates will take us in another
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100 million years let me know your
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wildest theory in the comments
