tectonic plates

The dozen or so plates that make up the surface of the Earth. Their motion is studied in the field of plate tectonics.

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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.

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Example Sentences

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Not only is it perched on a ridge where the Juan de Fuca and Pacific tectonic plates spread apart from each other — creating new seafloor in the process — but the volcano is also planted firmly above a geological “hot spot” — a region where plumes of superheated magma rise toward the Earth’s surface.

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It was a harsh reminder that under the idyllic white villages dotted with gyros restaurants, hot tubs in AirBnB rentals, and vineyards on rich volcanic soil, two tectonic plates grind in the Earth's crust.

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Nonetheless, the shock and anger generated in Europe by events of the past week have added fuel to perceptions of a much larger transatlantic rift – of a shifting of the tectonic plates of international relations.

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The earthquake originated near Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city of about 1.5 million, from rubbing tectonic plates along the Sagaing fault, which runs through the center of the country.

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The earth's upper layer is split into different sections, called tectonic plates, which are all moving constantly.

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tectonic boundary tectonics

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