The tectonic cycle is concerned with the overall mass movement of rock by the energy supplied from within the earth. The uplift of new material at the mid-ocean ridges and the spreading of the sea floor supply much of the energy and movement. It is concerned with the large processes that push and deform the crust, and also with the processes that drive the plates and what is produced at the plate boundaries.

It is partially responsible for the composition of sea water since it is magmatic uplift into the sea itself.

It creates and does much of the modification of the various major forms on the surface of the earth. (Mountains, folded strata, trenches, ocean basins, continents, islands, etc.) It also supplies the energy for volcanoes, earthquakes, faulting. etc.