Earth As We Know It

About 256 million years ago all of the continents were one, called Pangaea (the mother of all continents). Due to the occurrence of plate tectonics Pangaea is no longer one big continent (baby continents).  Plate tectonics have to do with the lithosphere that is broken into pieces that “float” on the asthenosphere, mantle convection causes the movement of the lithospheric plates.  There are three ways the plates can move.  The first is divergent plates, which means they move apart from each other creating a mid-ocean ridge.  The second is convergent plates, this is when the plates move towards each other causing surface features such as mountains and volcanoes.  Finally the third is transform plates, this is when the plates slide past each other causing earthquakes.  

Recently, there have been a string of earthquakes in Idaho. They have small magnitudes and thankfully haven't caused any injuries. Idaho is on the center of a seismic belt. Scientists say the the earthquake is due to molten rock movement under the crust. Although it's not too serious, scientists are also recommending to keep water and canned foods available.

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/geology/grocha/plates/images/transform1.jpg

This is a picture of a transform boundary which is where most earthquakes occur.

Click the link to learn more!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/16/idaho-earthquakes_n_5156670.html