Answer:

C. unequal distribution of heat within Earth

Lithospheric plates are part of a planetary scale thermal convection system. The energy source for plate tectonics is Earth's internal heat while the forces moving the plates are the “ridge push” and “slab pull” gravity forces. It was once thought that mantle convection could drive plate motions.

• The driving force behind plate tectonics is mantle convection. Also called earthquake waves.

Earth's crust, called the lithosphere, consists of 15 to 20 moving tectonic plates. ... The heat from radioactive processes within the planet's interior causes the plates to move, sometimes toward and sometimes away from each other. This movement is called plate motion, or tectonic shift.

The driving force behind plate tectonics is convection in the mantle. Hot material near the Earth's core rises, and colder mantle rock sinks. "It's kind of like a pot boiling on a stove," Van der Elst said.

• The heat produced in the interior of the earth is thought to be the driving force behind plate tectonics. That heat creates convections currents that can be observed in volumes of air and liquid is a known fact. There is substantial evidence that heat is produced in the core and mantle of the earth.

Lithospheric plates are regions of Earth's crust and upper mantle that are fractured into plates that move across a deeper plasticine mantle. ... Lithospheric plates move on top of the asthenosphere (the outer plastically deforming region of Earth's mantle). The term "plate" is deceptive.

• The force that causes most of the plate movement is thermal convection, where heat from the Earth's interior causes currents of hot rising magma and cooler sinking magma to flow, moving the plates of the crust along with them. ... In ridge push and slab pull, gravity is acting on the plate to cause the movement.

• Plates of lithosphere move because of convection currents in the mantle. One type of motion is produced by seafloor spreading. Plate boundaries can be located by outlining earthquake epicenters.

Lithospheric plates do not have same thickness everywhere because the plates changes its thickness due to intense heat in the Earth's core as these plates move from Earth's crust and upper mantle to a deeper plasticine mantle.

The driving force that facilitates the movement of the lithospheric plates to move slow is the convection current in the mantle. Convection current is the process by which less dense material rises and more dense material sinks.

A mid-ocean ridge or mid-oceanic ridge is an underwater mountain range, formed by plate tectonics. This uplifting of the ocean floor occurs when convection currents rise in the mantle beneath the oceanic crust and create magma where two tectonic plates meet at a divergent boundary.