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The Earth's lithosphere is divided into rigid plates that move over a partially molten layer called the asthenosphere. These plates interact at their boundaries, causing geological activity like earthquakes and volcanism.12

Oceanic plates are a type of lithospheric plate that lies beneath the oceans. They are formed at divergent plate boundaries, where magma rises from the mantle, cools, and creates new crust through a process called seafloor spreading. As oceanic crust ages, it cools, becomes denser, and can be subducted beneath other plates at convergent boundaries, forming subduction zones and oceanic trenches. This continuous cycle of creation and destruction shapes the ocean floor and drives plate tectonics.2345

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