Plate tectonics (from the Late Latin tectonicus, from the τεκτονικός `pertaining to building`){sfn|Little|Fowler|Coulson|1990} is a scientific theory that describes the large-scale motion of Earth`s lithosphere. This theoretical model builds on the concept of continental drift which was developed during the first few decades of the 20......
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The theory that the earth's crust is broken into about fragments (plates,) which move in relation to one another, shifting continents, forming new ocean crust, and causing volcanic eruptions.
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The theory that the earth's crust is broken into about 10 fragments (plates,) which move in relation to one another, shifting continents, forming new ocean crust, and stimulating volcanic eruptions.
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http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/glossary/1
theory dealing with the dynamics of Earth`s outer shell, the lithosphere, that revolutionized earth sciences by providing a uniform context for ... [37 related articles]
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Major processes of plate tectonics. Credit: NASA The now widely accepted theory, formulated in the late 1960s, that Earth's crust and upper mantle, known collectively as the lithosphere, consists of moving pieces (plates) lying above a weaker semiplastic asthenosphere. About six large and more ...
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The theory that the earth's surface is divided into a few large, thick plates that are continually moving.
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Plate tectonics is the now-established theory that chunks of the Earth's crust (plates) float on the surface and change both position and size over time.
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A widely accepted theory that relates most of the geologic features near the Earth's surface to the movement and interaction of relatively thin rock plates. The theory predicts that most earthquakes occur when plates move past each other.(See also mantle.)
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The theory that the earth's crust is broken into about 10 fragments (plates,) which move in relation to one another, shifting continents, forming new ocean crust, and stimulating volcanic eruptions.
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plate tectonics. A theory supported by a wide range of evidence that considers the earth's crust and upper mantle to be composed of several large, thin, relatively rigid plates that move relative to one another. Slip on faults that define the plate boundaries commonly results in earthquakes.
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The theory that the Earth's lithosphere consists of large, rigid plates that move horizontally in response to the flow of the asthenosphere beneath them, and that interactions among the plates at their borders cause most major geologic activity, including the creation of oceans, continents, mountains, volcanoes, and earthquakes.
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The surface of the Earth is broken into 12 main regions, or plates. Each plate moves over the Earth's surface independent of the other plates at speeds of a few centimeters per year. Most volcanic and tectonic activity on Earth is concentrated at the boundaries between these plates. Plate tectonics apparently has not occurred on Mars, although other processes related to mantle convection (slide #......
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The theory of global dynamics in which the lithosphere is believed to be broken into individual plates that move in response to convection in the upper mantle. The margins of the plates are sites of considerable geologic activity.
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Theory suggesting that the Earth's surface is composed of a number of oceanic and continental plates. Driven by convection currents in the mantle, these plates have the ability to slowly move across the Earth's plastic asthenosphere. This theory is very important to geology and geomorphology because it helps to explain the occurrence and fo...
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The theory that the crust and part of the mantle are divided into plates that interact with each other causing seismic and tectonic activity.
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platetectonics, plate-tectonics 1. A theory that explains the global distribution of geological phenomena; such as, seismicity, volcanism, continental drift, and mountain building in terms of the formation, destruction, movement, and interaction of the earth's lithospheric plates. 2. The dynamics of plate movements.
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Click images to enlargeTheory formulated in the 1960s to explain the phenomena of continental drift and sea-floor spreading, and the formation of the major physical features of the Earth's surface. The Earth's outermost layer, the lithosphere, is seen as a jigsaw puzzle of rigid major and minor plates that mov...
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the idea that the Earth's lithosphere can be divided into a number of plates that move and interact with each other along their boundaries.
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A theory of global tectonics according to which the lithosphere is divided into mobile plates. The entire lithosphere is in motion, not simply those segments composed of continental material. compare continental drift
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A geological theory, which postulates that the Earths crust, is made up of a number of rigid plates which collide, rub up against and spread out from one another.
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The Earth's surface (crust) is divided into huge fragments called tectonic plates which carry the continents on top of them. They move very slowly over the globe, past each other, away from each other or colliding and taking the continents with them.
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