Australia's coordinates out by more than 1.5 metres: scientist by Staff Writers Sydney (XNA) Oct 04, 2016 Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!. Australia has had to change its position on world maps four times in the past 50 years. The country happens to be located on one of the world's fastest-moving tectonic plates, travelling about 2.7 inches north each year. That's almost three times as fast as the plate on which the U.S. is positioned, which only travels around one inch per year. According to Dr Lucia Perez-Diaz from the Department of Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway University, tectonic plates, the massive chunks of earth on which continents sit and move about as fast as your fingernails grow; between 5 and 10 centimetres per year. "The reason why different plates move at different speeds is relatively simple each plate is different," Perez-Diaz told Business Insider Australia on Thursday. "For each plate, its rate of motion will be determined by a balance between the forces trying to make it move and those resisting that motion." more at.... http://www.gpsdaily.com/reports/Aus...ut_by_more_than_1_5_metres_scientist_999.html
That is the poorest explanation. Question is there difference in temperature in the magma under the crust on different plates ? If magma would have a uniform temperature would tectonic plates move ?
Is it? The article is about how the plates are moving relative to each other, at different speeds. http://study.com/academy/lesson/causes-of-tectonic-plate-movement.html
