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Map of the tectonic plates that is easy to read.

The supercontinent Pangaea, with its connected South America and Africa, broke apart 200 million years ago. But the continents haven't stopped shifting -- the tectonic plates beneath our feet (in Earth's two top layers, the lithosphere and the asthenosphere) are still traveling at about the rate your fingernails grow. Michael Molina discusses the catalysts and consequences of continental drift.

The supercontinent Pangaea, with its connected South America and Africa, broke apart 200 million years ago. But the continents haven't stopped shifting -- the tectonic plates beneath our feet (in Earth's two top layers, the lithosphere and the asthenosphere) are still traveling at about the rate your fingernails grow. Michael Molina discusses the catalysts and consequences of continental drift.

Have you ever found yourself in the path of molten lava? Has the volcano you're climbing suddenly erupted and you don't know what to do? Well keep watching because Huw James has all you need to know.

The earth is built on tectonic plates that move around on the mantle. Sometimes these plates move around and come together to form mountain chains like the Himalayas, some rub together and set off earthquakes, and some like Mount Etna, interact and one plate goes underneath the other.

Plate tectonics mini-lab.

The map above shows the past century of known earthquakes with a magnitude of at least 5. (There are actually nearly a million earthquakes per year, but most of them are not felt. A earthquake of magnitude 5 might cause damage to buildings.) Each white dot is a quake, of which there were about 72,000, and as you'd expect, you get a sense of plates tectonic boundaries.