Map Of Earth S Major Tectonic Plates

The plates are like the skin of the planet.

Map of earth s major tectonic plates. The seven major plates are the african plate antarctic plate. But they re never idle. Tectonic plates are of two types namely oceanic crust and continental crust that differ in composition. Earth s tectonic plate boundaries are unusual because they can consist of continent and ocean crust.

International date line map and details. The basic idea behind plate tectonics is that there are eight major plates on the surface of the earth. Evolution of the ocean basins through plate movements. Map prepared by the united states geological survey.

The type of crust that underlies the continents is called continental crust while the type found under the oceans is called oceanic crust. These plates move and interact with one another to produce earthquakes volcanoes mountain ranges ocean trenches and other geologic processes and features. On the other hand the largest minor plate is only 16 700 000 square kilometers in size while the smallest one measures at 1 100 000 square kilometers. This tectonic plate is found under the pacific ocean and its majority is made up of.

As they move only inches every year and depending on the direction of that movement they collide forming deep ocean trenches mountains volcanoes and generating earthquakes. They constantly move around the planet. The pacific plate moved northward during this phase and continues to do so today. Closely examine the map below which shows the 15 major tectonic plates.

Countries of the world. A map showing some of the world s major and minor tectonic plates. With the growth of the pacific plate and the consumption by subduction of its bordering plates including the izanagi farallon and phoenix. The crust of our planet is cracked into seven large and many other smaller slabs of rock called plates averaging about 50 miles thick.

The outer shell of the earth the lithosphere is broken up into tectonic plates. These plates make up the top layer of the earth called the lithosphere. Like seams of a baseball tectonic plate boundaries wrap around the earth. There are also bunches of minor plates.

When we say constantly moving we re talking centimeters each year. The size of major tectonic plates ranges from around 40 million to about 100 million square kilometers. 13 original us colonies map details. Earth has 7 major plate tectonic boundaries and 10 or so minor ones.

Other helpful pages on worldatlas. Seven tectonic plates are considered major. The largest one is the pacific plate with a surface size of 103 300 000 square kilometers. Plate tectonics have deceptively slow movement.

As you can see some of the plates contain continents and others are mostly under the ocean. Geological survey map of tectonic plates show 21 of the major plates as well as their movements and boundaries. A generalized map of earth s major tectonic plates. Tectonic plates are gigantic segments or pieces of the earth s crust and uppermost mantle that together constitute the lithosphere.

You could watch it happen if you watched an earthquake. You couldn t sit down and watch it happen.