What is the source of energy for plate movement?

The primary sources of energy for Earth, which we defined in the first part of this course, are solar, radioactive decay, and remnant energy.  There is some remnant heat in the Earth's interior (released as the Earth's core cools and solidifies),  there is remnant kinetic energy converted to heat due to the Earth and Moon tidal interaction, but most of the energy for plate tectonics comes from radioactive decay, which provides heat in Earth's mantle.  This heat is heterogeneously distributed, causing hotter and cooler areas in Earth.  Combined with interaction with the lithosphere, this heterogeneous distribution of heat produces convection in Earth's mantle.  The convection converts the heat energy to motion in the Earth's lithospheric plates.

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