Earth's crust is divided in mobile sections, moving at the rate of a few centimeters per year. New crust is formed or destroyed at the boundaries between plates. In places such as the San Andreas Fault, two plates slide by each other moving in opposite directions. Continents are carried on top of the tectonic plates. Radiating - Warm object radiate energy, i.e. emit it, in the form of infrared light.
Infrared radiation is a form of light, invisible to human eye.
Rifts - Regions of a planet's crust where the crust is itself being created. On Earth , rifts are an active force in plate tectonics . The new crust slowly moves away from the fissure as two plates moving in opposite directions. Sedimentation - The process by which sand and silt is deposited in successive layers. Seismic - Having to do with quakes.