North American Plate

[ nawrth uh-mer-i-kuhn pleyt ]

noun

, Geology, Oceanography.

1. a major tectonic division of the earth's crust, comprising Greenland and the continent of North America and the suboceanic Labrador and North American Basins, and bounded on the east by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, on the south by the Caribbean and South American Plates, and on the west by the San Andreas Fault and the Aleutian Trench.

Word History and Origins

Origin of North American Plate¹

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

Colossal geological forces collided: the Pacific Plate, the North American Plate and the Farralon Plate.

From The Daily Beast