TECTONIC PLATES

What is a Tectonic Plate?

• A tectonic plate (also called lithospheric plate) is

a massive, irregularly shaped slab of solid rock,
generally composed of both continental and
oceanic lithosphere.
• Tectonic plates probably developed very early in
the Earth's 4.6-billion-year history, and they have
been drifting about on the surface ever since-like
slow-moving bumper cars repeatedly clustering
together and then separating.
• Plate size: greatly varies from hundreds to
thousands of kilometers across

• Plate thickness: ranging from less than 15 km for

young oceanic lithosphere to about 200 km or
more for ancient continental lithosphere (for
example, the interior parts of North and South
America).
7 MAJOR TECTONIC PLATES
MINOR TECTONIC PLATES
 • Most of the boundaries between individual
plates cannot be seen, because they are hidden
beneath the oceans. Yet oceanic plate
boundaries can be mapped accurately from
outer space by measurements from GEOSAT
satellites. Earthquake and volcanic activity is
concentrated near these boundaries.
How Tectonic Plates Move?
TYPES OF PLATE BOUNDARY
REFERENCES
• California Earthquake Authority (2020). Understanding Plate Tectonic
Theory. Retrieved from
https://www.earthquakeauthority.com/Blog/2020/Understanding-Plate-Tecto
nic-Theory#:~:text=There%20are%20seven%20major%20plates,plate%20a
t%2039%2C768%2C522%20square%20miles
. February 7, 2022
 
• EARTHHOW (2022). 7 Major Tectonic Plates: The World’s Largest Plate
Tectonics. Retrieved from https://earthhow.com/7-major-tectonic-plates/.
February 7, 2022
 
• United States Geological Survey (n.a). What is a Tectonic Plate?. Retrieved
from https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/tectonic.html. February 7, 2022

• All images are retrieved from Google