Overview

Plate tectonics is the theory that explains how major events like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and mounting building events happen. A result of plate tectonics is the idea of continental drift. The gradual movements of the continents across the earth's surface through geological time.The question that you might be asking is how is evolution connected with Plate tectonics ? Earth has many individual plates, independently moving towards, away and past each other at a rate of 1-10 cm a year. In the 1960's the theory was established and got attention from geologists who began thinking about how plate tectonics connects to evolution. Alfred Wegener, known as “Father of Plate Tectonics”, proposed the continental drift in 1912 but was ridiculed by fellow scientists. It took about 50 years to accept the concept/ discovery he found. Harry Hess was the one who confirmed Wegener's idea using the evidence of seafloor spreading to explain what had moved continents. The importance of this is that a lot of elements that we need to sustain life are embedded between rocks and mountains. All those elements are crucial to life, like carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and oxygen. Without plate tectonics they would get stuck and stay there( National Geographic Society, 2 Apr. 2020, “CEA - Understanding Plate Tectonic Theory.”, Geoscience Frontiers, Elsevier, 29 Dec. 2015, )

“CEA - Understanding Plate Tectonic Theory.” Plate Tectonic Theory - Tectonic Plates Map, Movement & Boundaries | CEA, https://www.earthquakeauthority.com/Blog/2020/Understanding-Plate-Tectonic-Theory?locale=es. 

National Geographic Society. “Plate Tectonics.” National Geographic Society, 2 Apr. 2020, https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/plate-tectonics/. 

Stern, Robert J. “Is Plate Tectonics Needed to Evolve Technological Species on Exoplanets?” Geoscience Frontiers, Elsevier, 29 Dec. 2015, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987115300062.