Talk:Plate tectonics

Semi-protected edit request on 9 June 2024

Currently, the page "Baikal Rift Valley" does not exist, and I suggest linking it to the Wikipedia article on the Baikal Rift Zone in the examples of the 'Divergent Boundaries' section in the "Types of Plate Boundaries". .awddak jnmd (talk) 22:13, 9 June 2024 (UTC)

Thanks for reporting this. I have changed "Baikal Rift Valley" to "Baikal Rift" (because the article text is describing rift zones rather than rift valleys) and piped the wikilink to "Baikal Rift Zone". GeoWriter (talk) 14:57, 10 June 2024 (UTC)

History

Lot's of history here. And that is a serious problem. It is possible, although not most likely, that a reader has come to this article to find out what "experts" were thinking in 1900 or 1960. It is most likely, imho, that the reader has come here to learn what the current consensus model is. (And what various flavors it divides into. That is, the NOT 'decided' science.) IF this article is about the history of Plate Tectonics (Continental Drift) theory, it should be renamed as that. If it's about the theory, the theory needs to be given more substance at the very beginning. (That is, What, Why, Where, When, and How (as already mentioned there's far, far too much "Who" here).

Next subject: Beginning. It is stated several times that plate tectonics "began" 3.8 billion yrs ago. Bald statement and without ANY explanation. Just one day physics began to occur, huh? (I can't resist being sarcastic here.) Origins are never easy to explain, since the common response is "Okay, but then, where did THAT come from?". The Earth's birth date is uncertain. The best evidence (that I know of) is lead (Pb) ores with formation dating to 4.54 bya (±50 My). It isn't clear to me when a rigid lithosphere formed. Without that, there would be no plate tectonics...or would there? IDK. From what little I've read, convection probably developed as the Earth accreted. The evidence is uncertain for a Late Heavy Bombardment (3.8 to 4.1 Gya) but that would be an "interesting" coincidence given 3.8 Gya is supposedly the "start" of Plate movement. I'll also note, just for completeness, that A) the Theia Impact occurred at ~ 4.4 Gya and B) Liquid water also (probably) existed on the Earth's surface starting at 4.4 Gya. What's needed is an explanation of why it took 500 million to 1 billion years for the plates to begin tectonic movement. (the Theia impact's caused surface heating which rapidly cooled?) and C) the search for where the Earth's (surface) water comes from has declined (arguably) as understanding of the water content of the Earth's interior has become better understood. Water is enormously important in the mechanical properties interior to the Earth (including viscosity and mechanical strength). 98.17.181.251 (talk) 19:09, 6 July 2024 (UTC)

The article starts with three sections that describe the theory before delving into the history of the theory's development. It wouldn't harm the article if the history section was cut down to about half its current size, however.

The onset of some sort of plate tectonics is likely to have been about 3.8 Gya, although there's plenty of discussion about when plate tectonics took on its current form. We do need a section on the development of global tectonics with time. The whole article could undoubtedly do with a rewrite, probably using Palin and Santosh 2021.Mikenorton (talk) 20:50, 6 July 2024 (UTC)