The Moving Earth

11:37am Tuesday 15th April 2008

The Earth's crust is made from rock called "plates" which move in relation to one another. The seven larger plates, include the North American, African, and Eurasian plates, and many smaller ones such as the Caribbean and Arabian plates. Plates move apart to create new rock from below the crust. Where plates collide, one plate moves below the other, back into the Earth's mantle. Some plates move past one another along faults. It is along such fault lines where earthquakes are most frequent and severe. In the British Isles earth tremors occur fairly regularly but many are so weak that they go undetected unless you look at seismograph readings. In the north-west of Britain the land is rising, towards the south-east it is sinking, the whole globe is still and always will be geologically changing.

Next week......Ice Core Records.The answer to last weeks question: pH of 5.0. This weeks question: What is the Earth's crust made of:A/ Water.B/ Rock.Good Luck.Glossary:

Cloud Condensation Nuclei: Small airborne particles on to which water vapour condenses to form cloud droplets.Weather for coming week:Monday 14th April-Friday 18th April Low pressure to the south and high to the north creating an east to north-east airflow later this week between these two pressure fields. Monday sunshine and local squally rain and hail showers. Frost overnight.Tuesday sunny spells and just a few sharp showers.Wednesday fair and placid.Thursday fair start, showery rain and east winds later.Friday into weekend colder and mixed.Maximum temperature 9-11c 48-52f.Minimum temperature 0-5c 32-41f.Last Week's Observations (Monday-Sunday) Highest day temperature.............13.5c 57f on Saturday 13th April.Lowest night temperature............Minus 2.6c 27f on Monday 7th April.Wettest day................................7.2 mm on Friday 11th April.

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