tectonic plates
[ (tek-ton-ik) ]
The dozen or so plates that make up the surface of the Earth. Their motion is studied in the field of plate tectonics.
Notes for tectonic plates
The plates are not the same as the continents. The North American plate, for example, extends from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean to the west coast of the United States and Canada. These plates are about thirty miles thick.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
How to use tectonic plates in a sentence
Some time ago, say a few million years ago, several tectonic plates collided.
Napa’s Earthquake Is Not The Only Thing Shaking The Vineyards | Clive Irving | August 31, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTMars has no tectonic plates—no continents, in other words—and no ginormous moon.
Underneath our feet tectonic plates shift, magma bubbles, water boils, and both regularly erupt.
These tectonic plates are likely to shift gradually, and this is part of it.
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