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plate tectonics
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World map highlighting the major tectonic plates, each shaded in a different color, with labeled names such as Pacific Plate, North American Plate, Eurasian Plate, African Plate, South American Plate, and Indo-Australian Plate. Arrows across the map indicate the direction of movement for each plate.
What is the theory of continental drift?
Cross-sectional diagram of Earth's outer layers, showing oceanic and continental crust at the surface, the rigid lithosphere, the partially melted asthenosphere, and transitions from upper to lower mantle, with labeled depths and rock properties. Cross-sectional diagram illustrating plate tectonics, showing oceanic and continental crust moving over the asthenosphere. It highlights divergent boundaries at oceanic ridges where crust forms, convergent boundaries at trenches with subduction zones where crust is destroyed, and a transform boundary with a fault. Features such as island arcs, rising magma, and hotspots are labeled.
The types of seismic waves explained
Cutaway diagram of Earth's interior showing the crust, mantle, outer core, and detailed inner core, which is divided into the outer-inner core and inner-inner core. The diagram includes labeled axes, poles, and scale bars indicating core diameters.
How does plate tectonics change Earth's surface?
Diagram showing three tectonic plates labeled A, B, and C on two globe cross-sections, illustrating convergent, divergent, and transform plate boundaries with arrows and labels. Rocky cliffs and a deep rift valley with a grassy floor run through Thingvellir National Park in Iceland, marking the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. A world map uses color bands to show the age of Earth's oceanic crust in millions of years, with red marking the youngest crust along mid-ocean ridges and blue representing the oldest crust farther from spreading centers.
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plate tectonics summary
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World map highlighting the major tectonic plates, each shaded in a different color, with labeled names such as Pacific Plate, North American Plate, Eurasian Plate, African Plate, South American Plate, and Indo-Australian Plate. Arrows across the map indicate the direction of movement for each plate.
Earth's tectonic plates Map showing Earth's major tectonic plates with arrows depicting the directions of plate movement.

plate tectonics

geology
Written by
Tjeerd H. van Andel
Wayne Loel Professor Emeritus of Earth Sciences, Stanford University, California. Honorary Professor of Earth History, University of Cambridge. Author of New Views on an Old Planet: Continental Drift...
Tjeerd H. van AndelAll
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
Last updated
•History

plate tectonics, theory dealing with the dynamics of Earth’s outer shell—the lithosphere—that revolutionized Earth sciences by providing a uniform context for understanding mountain-building processes, volcanoes, and earthquakes as well as the evolution of Earth’s surface and reconstructing its past continents and oceans. The concept of plate tectonics was formulated in the 1960s. According to the theory, Earth has a rigid outer layer, known as the lithosphere, which is typically about 100 km (60 miles) thick...

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