ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Seychelles Plate

Hello there! Today, we are going to talk about a special thing called the Seychelles plate!

A plate is a big piece of the Earth's crust that is floating on top of the very hot and gooey magma underneath it. The Seychelles plate is one of these plates, and it is named after a beautiful island country called Seychelles where it is located.

Now, since the Seychelles plate is floating on the magma, it can move around a little bit like a boat on water. It is not like a boat that you can steer, but it moves because of something called plate tectonics.

Plate tectonics is when the Earth's crust is divided into giant puzzle pieces that move. These pieces meet at their edges, and sometimes they bump into each other, slide past each other, or try to go under or over each other. When they bump into each other, there can be big earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

The Seychelles plate is very interesting because it is moving very slowly towards Africa. It is on a collision course with Africa! But don't worry, it will take millions of years before it gets there. When the Seychelles plate collides with Africa, it will cause the land to change shape and eventually become mountains. This process is called mountain building.

So, that's a brief explanation of the Seychelles plate! It's just a big piece of the Earth's crust that is floating on magma, moving slowly towards Africa, and will eventually collide with it and cause mountain building. Pretty neat, isn't it?