SparkNote on Newton . The chemical reaction between metals and oxygen in which new compounds are formed. Pathfinder - 1997 mission to Mars that sent a lander to Mars's surface, equipped with a rover that explored the ground in the vicinity of the landing site. Pathfinder obtained data on the composition of the soil and the types of rock in that region of the planet. 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. 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.