Interactive · plate tectonics
Why the ground moves under Armenia
The Earth’s outer shell is broken into plates that move a few centimetres a year. Where they pull apart, sink or collide, mountains grow and earthquakes happen. Choose a boundary, press play and watch millions of years in seconds.
Test yourself
1. What pushes the Arabian plate towards Armenia?
The Red Sea and Gulf of Aden rifts spread apart and move Arabia north, about 2 cm per year.
2. Where do earthquakes reach depths of hundreds of kilometres?
The cold slab stays brittle as it sinks, so earthquakes follow it deep into the mantle.
3. What are the ophiolites near Lake Sevan?
They are remnants of the Neo-Tethys ocean, pushed onto the continent when the ocean closed.
4. Why does a fault produce a sudden earthquake instead of sliding smoothly?
This is elastic rebound: the rock stores energy like a spring and releases it in seconds.
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Schematic, not to scale. Arabia–Eurasia plate motion from GPS studies (e.g. Reilinger et al., 2006, J. Geophys. Res.). Satellite images: NASA Blue Marble (NASA Earth Observatory). Shaded relief: IGES. Prepared by IGES for students and the public.