Modeling in the Earth sciences is incredibly important because much of the phenomena, or the processes which lead to them, are not accessible to us visually outside of the models we have created.
For example...
Plate boundaries: convergent (plates coming together), divergent (moving apart), and transform (sideways). Most of the time we cannot see these processes happening, though we can see the phenomena they cause (see scuba diver picture below).
An important part of the modeling enterprise is that models are malleable, and can change over time. One example of this is tectonic plates, which is a model that changed many times over the course of the Continental Drift Theory. Famously credited to Wegener, the theory of continental drift originally stated two main points: that the continents were once joined together in Pangea, and that they eventually broke apart and drifted to their current locations.
The issue with this model? It does not provide a mechanism, a physical cause, for movement of the plates.
But of course, theories evolve and models with them. We now have a new model (a complicated model that people take entire semesters to understand).
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