Eli5: why are there multiple tectonic plates instead of just one giant one?
In: Earth Science
Currents inside the mantle are not in the same direction everywhere, in fact, that would be impossible, like wind, it’s always coming from a different direction in different places. So different parts of the earth have different forces, and some tear land apart, while other push it together, creating multiple plates that move relatively independently
Ok. If there was only one it would be a shell and not a tectonic plate because it couldn’t move.
There are numerous plates because they are all being dragged and pulled about by the force of moving mantle below them. Where a plate is being pulled in different directions it can break apart and allow the two halves to slowly separate at a rate of centimetres per year.
The earth only had one continent named pangea at one point. Then due to some reason, the pangea split and formed the tectonic plates. This lead to the formation of many new rivers and helped shape our world to the way we know it today.
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