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How Do Deep Ocean Trenches Affect The Earth?

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How Do Deep Ocean Trenches Affect The Earth?
The Earth - it's an intricate formation of land and sea, rock and metal, but how can the movements of the continents be explained, or how do deep ocean trenches affect us? The three main theories that explain how these things work are sea-floor spreading, continental drift, and plate tectonics. These are the theories that give us explanation as to why the continents move, how plate tectonics work, etc. These theories were formed by different scientists and with different forms of evidence, some scientists used one of the other two theories to support theirs, and one theory is even based on another. The theories all state how they affect the Earth as a whole, or how it may just affect a general area. They are all similar and different in their …show more content…
The first difference is that the theory of plate tectonics disproved parts of the continental drift theory. So for example when the theory of continental drift stated that the continents just plowed through oceanic crust, the theory of plate tectonics said it was because of convection currents (Plate 1). These theories were all believed at different times, the continental drift theory for example was only accepted after the creation of the theory of plate tectonics, which was many years after the theory was originally constructed, while the theory of plate tectonics was accepted right after it was originally created (Intro 1). The next difference is the fact that continental drift focuses on continental crust, sea-floor spreading focuses on oceanic crust, and plate tectonics focus on both, therefore they all focus on different layers of the Earth’s crust (Alfred 1). Another difference is that different scientists formed different theories. Harry H. Hess formed the theory of sea-floor spreading, while Wegener composed the theory of continental drift. (Allaby 1). Finally, the last difference is in general they are all different in what they state. Sea-floor spreading states how trenches release magma that adds new oceanic crust. Continental drift states that continents “drift”around earth’s surface and were once part of a supercontinent, called Pangaea. Plate tectonics state how different sections of the Earth move around (Continental 1). The theories all represent and state something different, and are supported with different pieces of

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