Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

tectonic plates

 
Sci-Tech Dictionary: tectonic plate
Home > Library > Science > Sci-Tech Dictionary
(tek′tän·ik ′plāt)

(geology) Any one of the internally rigid crustal blocks of the lithosphere which move horizontally across the earth's surface relative to one another. Also known as crustal plate.

Search unanswered questions...

Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

Science Dictionary: tectonic plates
Top
Home > Library > Science > Science Dictionary
(tek-ton-ik)

The dozen or so plates that make up the surface of the Earth. Their motion is studied in the field of plate tectonics.

  • The plates are not the same as the continents. The North American plate, for example, extends from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean to the west coast of the United States and Canada. These plates are about thirty miles thick.

    •  
     
    Learn More
    tectosphere (geology)
    San Andreas Fault (Science)
    sea floor spreading (Science)

    What is plate tectonics about? Read answer...
    What is a plate tectonic? Read answer...
    Tectonic plates? Read answer...

    Help us answer these
    What is the plate tectonic?
    Where are the tectonic plates?
    What is a plate of tectonics about?

    Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:

     

    Copyrights:

    Sci-Tech Dictionary. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms. Copyright © 2003, 1994, 1989, 1984, 1978, 1976, 1974 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Science Dictionary. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.  Read more