How and why did the continents broke?

Question

How and why did the continents broke?

Answer 1

dont listen to the first answer. the continents broke apart due to convection in the matle of the earth. in other word, the lava underneath, (underground is called magma).

Answer 2

because of a whole bunch of earthquakes & volcano eruptions I guess.  Maybe bc of the ice age too?

Answer 3

The crust of the earth is not one solid piece, but a series of pieces called tectonic plates.  These plates are constantly moving due to various reasons: magma beneath them, gravitational forces.  The movement of these plates over millions of years gives the configuration we have today.  In another billion years it will lock quite different.

Also the movement of these plates are what gives us earthquakes.

Answer 4

Flash some water on a burning bulb.You will see that the glass will break. The difference in temperature in earth layers caused the crack in lithosphere.Sudden rise in temperature or sudden cooling will crack .

Answer 5

Due to the Wilson Cycle.

See:

http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=...

For PSP:  The Wilson Cycle consists of several different steps.  One of these steps is, indeed, the action of convection currents in the asthenosphere (upper part of the mantle).  Please check out my link.

Answer 6

The earth is not one solid ball as most people would think. The lithosphere (upper-most rocky area of the earth constituted by the crust and an upper part of mantle) is actually fragmented in various "blocks" called tectonic plates.

These plates slide along a plastic-like surface called the asthenosphere (right below the upper-mantle). The reason why these plates slide is due to the movement this plastic surface has. In the asthenosphere, the hotter material will move upwards, cooling, and ends up going back down.

An easier way to see this is imagining a pot of water that is being heated. The heated water will become less dense (because matter expands when heated) and this will cause it to rise. After some time the water will cool and go back down, thats basically what happens in the asthenosphere.

This movement of its matter will be the cause of the movement of the tectonic plates, and, after billions of years, and a lot of various movements, the world has taken the form it has today.