Plate reconstruction

Have you ever played with a puzzle? Imagine the Earth's outer layer, or crust, is like a big puzzle made up of a bunch of jigsaw pieces called plates. These plates fit together like a puzzle, but they can also move around.

A long time ago, the plates were arranged in a different way than they are today. Scientists call it "plate tectonics," which just means the study of how the plates move and shift around over time. They have found that the plates have moved and spread apart, and new land is created when they meet, while the old land is destroyed.

By knowing how the plates move, scientists can figure out what the Earth looked like a long time ago, and how it might change in the future. They use things like rocks and fossils to help put together the puzzle of the Earth's past, and predict what might happen next. This is what's called plate reconstruction.

It's like trying to put a puzzle together after it has already been moved around a lot. But scientists are really good at finding clues and figuring out how it all fits together.