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How quickly do lithospheric plates usually move?
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continental landform
Davis's proposed landscape-development states. The morphology shown is not actually time-indicative. For example, A could be a gully system in soft sediment or a canyon such as the Royal Gorge in Colorado, which is millions of years old. The ridge-ravine topography of B would normally develop under humid conditions, but the river meandering on alluvium indicates a prior or extraneous non-humid aggrading mechanism. The riverine plain of C implies a complex history of planation and aggradation in a current fluvial mode.
Lithospheric plates move at varying speeds across the Earth's surface. Data derived from seafloor spreading rates indicate that these plates typically move at speeds ranging from approximately 0.1 cm (0.04 inch) per year to 17 cm (6.7 inches) per year.1
These rates are not uniform globally; for instance, spreading processes are significantly more rapid in the Pacific Ocean compared to the Atlantic and Indian oceans. This movement is driven by complex geological forces, including convection currents within the mantle, as well as slab pull and ridge push mechanisms.123