Tectonic Problems – June 17

What is going on with the huge pieces — plates — that constitute Earth’s crust? Plate tectonics is ultimately responsible for the earth’s highest mountains and deepest oceans, also for most earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. It was first proposed in the mid 1960s, after the discovery of DNA, and after the first human spaceflight. Even today, what drives the motion of the plates remains a mystery. What do we know and not know about the forces at work behind plate tectonics?

Our speaker, William Hawley, is a National Science Foundation postdoctoral scholar at Columbia University. He is also a Wonderfest Science Envoy.