3. Infer Based on the positions of the islands relative to the Galápagos hotspot, in what direction is the Nazca Plate moving? What evidence did you use to infer this?

The Nazca plate is moving in a southwestern direction.

Explanation:

The Galapagos Islands are a chain of islands that have been formed by hot spot volcanism. This means that they are volcanic islands formed on top of a plate, not near the boundary of the plates. The hot spot is static, while the plates move, so as the plate moves one volcanic island away from the hot spot, a new one is formed.

The direction in which the islands are relative to each other is an excellent indicator of the direction in which the plate is moving. The smaller islands are the oldest ones, while the larger ones are the younger ones, so the direction in which the plate is moving is from the point of the largest island toward the smallest islands. In this case, we can see that if we make a line from the largest island toward the smallest islands the direction comes to be roughly in a southwestern manner.

heat released by collision processes during accretion, and heat from decay of radioactive elements

explanation: