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Geology & Earth Sciences vocabulary · Plate Tectonics & Structures

Tectonic plate

Meaning in geology & earth sciences, with examples

/tekˈtɑːnɪk pleɪt/nounCore term

In geology & earth sciences, tectonic plate means: One of the large, rigid pieces of the Earth's lithosphere that move slowly over the mantle, usually by a few centimetres a year.

In Turkish: tektonik levha, levha, plaka

How it is used

Often shortened to 'plate': the African Plate, the Eurasian Plate. Plates move apart, collide or slide past each other. Most of Turkey sits on the small Anatolian Plate, squeezed between the Eurasian, African and Arabian plates.

Example sentences

  1. The Arabian tectonic plate is moving north towards Eurasia.

  2. Tectonic plates move at about the speed your fingernails grow.

Common collocations

  • tectonic plate movement
  • the Eurasian Plate
  • plates collide
  • plate motion
  • plate tectonicsThe theory that the Earth's outer shell is broken into large plates that move slowly, causing earthquakes, volcanoes, mountain building and the movement of continents.
  • plate boundaryThe zone where two tectonic plates meet. Plates move apart at divergent boundaries, towards each other at convergent boundaries and past each other at transform boundaries.
  • lithosphereThe rigid outer shell of the Earth, made of the crust and the uppermost part of the mantle. It is broken into tectonic plates and is typically around 100 km thick.
  • faultA fracture in the Earth's crust along which the rocks on either side have moved. Sudden slip on a fault causes an earthquake.

More terms: Plate Tectonics & Structures

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