Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Plate Tectonics: Earth's Moving Crust
Nonfiction
For ages 9 to 12
Compass Point Books, 2007 ISBN: 0756519578
Earthquakes and volcanoes cause a great deal of damage around the world, and the ramifications of these natural disasters can be felt for months and even years after they occur. There was a time when people thought that these kinds of events came about because divine forces were at work. We now know that the movement of plates in the Earth’s crust are responsible for earthquakes and volcanoes. Some of these plates “carry continents, some carry oceans, and some carry a combination of both.”
How is it that these plates are able to move? Thanks to the work of scientists, we now know that heat within the Earth causes molten rock to move beneath the Earth’s surface. This movement causes the plates on the surface to move towards each other, away from each other, or to slide past one another. The places where these encounters between the plates take place are often regions where earthquakes and volcanoes occur.
This excellent title not only provides readers with an excellent description of what plate tectonics is, but it also helps readers to understand how we came to better understand the forces that are responsible for the world’s earthquakes and volcanoes.
