How were the tectonic plates formed?

Earth's tectonic plates may have taken as long as 1 billion years to form, researchers report today in Nature. read more

Earth's tectonic plates may have taken as long as 1 billion years to form, researchers report today in Nature. The plates — interlocking slabs of crust that float on Earth's viscous upper mantle — were created by a process similar to the subduction seen today when one plate dives below another, the report says. read more

Mantle convection cells were the initial drivers behind plate tectonics, with the the upwelling plumes forcing the cooling crust to move around. As the proto-plate cooled it would sink back into the mantle due to negative buoyancy (cold and rigid sinks into hot and fluid). read more