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Around 300 million years ago there was a super contenient called Pangea. Every contenient we know now was connected with each other. For example if you were in todays florida you could walk Africa and South America.
Obviously a lot has changed in 300 million years and now all of the contenients are far apart, and this is because of tetonic plates. There are 7 major plates then 8 minior plates that make up Earths surface.
The major tectonic plates names are the Pacific plate, North American plate, South American Plate, African plate, Antartic plate, Eurasian plate, and the Indo-Australian plate.
There are 3 different types of plates and they are divergent, convergent, and transform plate boundaries. Divergent boundaries are when two plates come apart from each other. Convergent boundaries are when a plate subducts below another plate. Lastly transform boundaries are when plates slide past each other.
A very famous boundary is the San Andreas fault line. It is a transform boundary that separates the North American Plate and the Pacific Plate. The fault line stretches through almsot all of California as it goes from near Garberville is northern California to near Brawley in southern California. The plates move about a few inches a year, the same rate as a human finger nails grow which if you think about it is quite alot for two plates moving. The fault I visable from the surface of the planet for example you can see it at Carrizo Plain, shown in the picture below.
In 1915 a man named Alfred Wegener made a theroy about how all of the contenients were once connected (Pangea) then slow driffted away during a process called conteniental drift. The reason he made this theory was because there were the same fossils were found in Florida were also found in South America and Africa. This made Wegener with the input and help of other develop his theory into what we now know today.
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