No. A tectonic plate is a segment of the rigid rocky outer shell of the Earth composed of the crust and the brittle uppermost mantle.
Plate tectonic is the state the outer portion of the earth crust composed rigid units called plates.
Plate tectonics is the geologic theory that the Earth's crust is made up of rigid plates. Some examples of tectonic plates are the African Plate, the Antarctic Plate, the Eurasian Plate and the Pacific Plate.
There is no specific term for such a general block. "Lithospheric block" would be acceptable, but it would be best to describe exactly what you mean by it.
A tectonic plate is a piece of lithosphere. The lithosphere is the outer, rigid "shell" of the earth. A plate moves along the asthenosphere (layer below the lithosphere) and can be either continental or oceanic lithosphere. Volcanic activity and earthquakes are common at boundaries of individual plates.
It's a theory explaining the structure of the earth's crust and many associated phenomena as resulting from the interaction of rigid lithospheric plates that move slowly over the underlying mantle.
Plate tectonic is the state the outer portion of the earth crust composed rigid units called plates.
Tectonic plates
A tectonic plate would fit the above description.A tectonic (lithospheric) plate.A lithospheric (tectonic) plate.
Plate tectonics is the geologic theory that the Earth's crust is made up of rigid plates. Some examples of tectonic plates are the African Plate, the Antarctic Plate, the Eurasian Plate and the Pacific Plate.
The outer layers, the continental and oceanic crust.
plate is the part of lithosphere which is wholly cut upto asthenosphere, while the lithosphere is crust plus upper mantle, which is hard rigid rocks.
The Plate Tectonics Theory
According to plate tectonic theory and observations of seismic waves, the upper mantle is solid and more dense than the crust. At greater depth, the rigidity abruptly decreases and it becomes very flexible, but not liquid.
The Earth does not have a "rigid" outer covering, it has an atmosphere.Below the atmosphere is the crust which is made of tectonic plates. However there plates are NOT rigid and to describe them as such would be incorrect, they deform and fold.
The theory of plate tectonics explains large scale motion of the earth's lithosphere. Tectonic plates are rigid slabs of the earth's lithosphere (crust and upper mantle) in which float and move with the continents they carry.
Which rigid zone on the Earth's surface forms the earth's "drifting" tectonic plates?
There is no specific term for such a general block. "Lithospheric block" would be acceptable, but it would be best to describe exactly what you mean by it.