Final answer:
Energy from convection currents in the mantle moves the tectonic plates, causing them to bend and break, forming ridges, valleys, and rifts. This is how mountain ranges, subduction zones, and other tectonic features are created.
Step-by-step explanation:
This adds energy to the crust, which then bends and breaks, forming tectonic features such as ridges, valleys, and rifts. The Earth's crust and upper mantle are made up of about a dozen tectonic plates that move and interact due to slow convection currents within the mantle. This movement can push plates apart, like at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, or force them together, resulting in the formation of mountains or subduction zones where one plate moves under another.
Plate boundaries can be dynamic zones of volcanic activity and earthquakes. Over geologic time, the interaction of tectonic plates has changed the appearance of our planet's crust through processes of mountain building, ocean basin formation, and the drift of continents. The movement of these plates is analogous to pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that fit together but are constantly in motion, across Earth's surface.