Tectonic Plates and the Three Boundaries
Ireland's Past
The tectonic plates are moving, and it has been believed that the plates have been moving (almost) since the beginning of Earth's history. The word tectonic alludes to the design of the earth and the cycles transpiring on it. Ireland has a long and fascinating tectonic record, and its why we have an many exceptional rock-types in many small regions around the world, like in different parts of Ireland. The regions where these plates meet are known as plate boundaries. There are three sorts of plate boundaries.
The plates Diverge and this causes new development of rock and rock formations. It happens when two tectonic plates pull in different ways, allowing rock from the mantle to rise through the opening to shape new stone on the surface when it cools. It occurs toward the beginning of a new ocean and continues at the mid-ocean ridge while the sea is opening. Rifting (large-scale faulting) and volcanoes are caused by divergent plates. When the Atlantic Ocean was formed close to 60 million years ago, the Paleogene rocks in various counties in Ireland like Cooley, county Louth and at the Giant's Causeway in the county Antrim.
2. Convergent or destructive plates:
This is when two tectonic plates crash or collide into one another. The effects are determined by the kind of plates that collided, like for instance, the impact of two oceanic plates, an oceanic plate and a continental plate or two continental plates (which is conceivable). When there is a difference in the thickness of the plates that collided, subduction occurs. The oceanic crust tends to be denser than continental crust (most of the time) and is pushed downwards into the hot mantle when it crashes into the continental crust. The less dense continental crust is then pushed upwards. This happened in Ireland with the conclusion of the Iapetus Sea a long time back. The oceanic crust of Iapetus was initially subducted beneath the continental crust, but the oceanic crust eventually disappeared, and the continents collided. This event caused the Caledonian mountains to be formed and were supposedly just as high as the modern Himalayas.
3. Passive plate boundaries are also known as strike-slip or transform boundaries:
This is when two plates pass one another, at the point when the plates move, the rough edges of the plate can catch or snag one another, getting wedged or jammed causing a development of pressure build up, the tension is then delivered as an earthquake. The nearest passive plate boundary to Ireland is the between the African and Eurasian plate south of Portugal.
Sources
