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Plate
tectonics is a theory, superseding and encompassing the earlier
continental drift theory, that the Earth's continents make large scale
movements over geological time. The process is really slow, and occurs
at the same rate finger nails grow: about 0.1 mm a day. That's 36.5 mm a
year, 36.5 m per millennium and 36.5 km per million years or 3650 km in
100 million years. Ireland, or more correctly the parts that make up
Ireland, were once located south of the equator in tropical seas. (I
found a rock once in the midlands, when helping to dig a deep hole. The
rock was embedded with large fossilised cockles). Over millions of years
the parts drifted northward and merged, to make the island. The
dividing line between the northern and southern parts of the island of
Ireland runs roughly down a line between Louth and Kerry.