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LITHOEN

Geological process

Plate tectonics

The unifying framework of the solid-Earth sciences: the lithosphere is broken into plates whose relative motions — divergence, convergence and transform sliding — create, destroy and reshape the crust.

How this record is known

4
Settled consensus
Cited as the accepted position of the discipline.
3
Interpretation
Reached by reasoning from evidence, or produced by a named model.
1
Contested or proposed
Experts disagree, or the statement is a proposal rather than a conclusion.

8 of 8 claims on this page cite at least one registered source. Counts describe how each statement is known, not how likely it is to be true.

What Lithoen records

Each claim states how it is known and cites its evidence.

EstablishedBroad belts of distributed deformation involving microplates.

Not all boundaries are simple lines: in plate-boundary zones the deformation spreads across a broad belt involving at least two large plates and one or more microplates, producing complicated structures and earthquake patterns.

Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence one source

Evidence: Kious 1996 Primary authority

InferredA multi-factor force balance whose relative contributions remain under discussion.

Plate motion is not attributed to one sufficient cause: convective flow in the mantle, ridge push at spreading centres and slab pull at subduction zones have each been argued to contribute, and their relative importance has shifted with the evidence.

Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence one source

Evidence: Kious 1996 Primary authority

HypothesisRidge push proposed as an additional contributing force.

Some geologists argue that intrusion of magma at spreading ridges supplies an additional force — ridge push — that helps propel and maintain plate movement.

  • precision note: Attributed by the source to "some geologists" as an argued additional force rather than an established one.

Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence one source

Evidence: Kious 1996 Primary authority

InferredSlab pull is currently favoured as the primary driving force.

Since the 1990s most scientists have favoured slab pull — the gravity-controlled sinking of a cold, denser oceanic slab into a subduction zone, dragging the rest of the plate with it — as the driving force of plate tectonics.

  • precision note: Presented by the source as the prevailing view following a shift in opinion, not as a settled measurement.

Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence one source

Evidence: Kious 1996 Primary authority

InferredCrustal creation and destruction are balanced, because the planet is not growing.

Earth’s size has not changed significantly during the past 600 million years, which implies that crust must be destroyed at about the same rate as it is created.

Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence one source

Evidence: Kious 1996 Primary authority

EstablishedDivergent, convergent, transform, and broad plate-boundary zones.

There are four types of plate boundary: divergent, where new crust is generated as plates pull apart; convergent, where crust is destroyed as one plate dives under another; transform, where crust is neither produced nor destroyed as plates slide past; and broad plate-boundary zones where boundaries are not well defined.

Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence one source

Evidence: Kious 1996 Primary authority

EstablishedFour boundary types: divergent, convergent, transform, and plate-boundary zones.

Most plate movement occurs along narrow zones between plates, at four types of boundary: divergent, convergent, transform, and broader plate-boundary zones.

Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence one source

Evidence: Kious 1996 Primary authority

EstablishedPlates are lithospheric, comprising crust plus rigid upper mantle, and carry both continents and ocean floor.

The plates are lithosphere — crust together with the rigid uppermost mantle — not continents. Each plate carries both continental and oceanic areas.

Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence 2 sources, multiple sources, independence unknown

Evidence: Kious 1996 Primary authority; Wald n.d. Primary authority

In the knowledge graph

Record last updated 2026-09-06. Corrections follow the published corrections policy; superseded claims are retained, never silently edited.