It has been long realized that the fossil record showed extinctions that had something to do with plate movements. As plates move the positions of land and ocean, there seems to be drastic shifts of environments. Marine conditions become land, and this would cause extinctions of any marine organisms.

The timing of plate tectonics and extinctions that are recorded in the fossil record are similar. When plate movement brings continents together, the environment of the organisms will slowly change, but in the fossil record it could look "rapid."

Plate tectonics can cause mountains to emerge through converging or transform boundaries which become barriers for organisms. Unlike humans, most organisms do not have the ability to just "move." An elephant cannot just find a new habitat that will sustain a healthy population. They just can’t get into a car and drive to a new place.