Why do the earths plate move about?
Yes it is convection of magma, but there are also other factors involved as well, another two are: “Ridge slide” and “slab pull.” It is kind of hard to explain in brief, but you can do a simple experiment yourself to test this out… Get a piece of paper and place one side of it slightly off the edge of a desk, lift the opposite side of the paper (without gripping it) and you will notice the paper slide off of the desk. This gives you a very basic idea of what is happening with certain tectonic plates, an oceanic plate can be driven down into the earth by an overlying continental plate, and the other end of the oceanic plate can be lifted by magmatic activity (erupting lava under the sea), once the oceanic plate subducts below continental it builds a sort of momentum – like the paper did, and it continues to move forwards and downwards – underneath the continental plate – being dragged by it’s own weight and the forces acting on it! This type of movement is a product of the densities o
