plate tectonics
a theory of global tectonics in which the lithosphere is divided into a number of crustal plates, each of which moves on the plastic asthenosphere more or less independently to collide with, slide under, or move past adjacent plates.
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Origin of plate tectonics
1Other words from plate tectonics
- plate-tec·ton·ic, adjective
Words Nearby plate tectonics
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use plate tectonics in a sentence
If we assume that one of the main drivers of plate tectonics is subduction — where one plate sinks into the deep mantle below another plate — then we shouldn’t expect any plate to be moving faster than the rate at which its slab sinks.
The New Historian of the Smash That Made the Himalayas | Robin George Andrews | April 14, 2021 | Quanta MagazineIt “supports the growing consensus in the geological community that plate tectonics established itself at a global scale” sometime around 3 billion years ago, he said.
Scientists Pin Down When Earth’s Crust Cracked, Then Came to Life | Howard Lee | March 25, 2021 | Quanta MagazineThose estimates have wildly different implications for how plate tectonics affects everything else on Earth.
Scientists Pin Down When Earth’s Crust Cracked, Then Came to Life | Howard Lee | March 25, 2021 | Quanta MagazineVolcanism on a climate-altering scale might not last as long as it does when plate tectonics keeps things churning along, but it theoretically could persist for 1 billion or 2 billion years, Foley says.
How the Earth-shaking theory of plate tectonics was born | Carolyn Gramling | January 13, 2021 | Science NewsSouth of Silicon Valley, an entire town is being deformed, slowly, by plate tectonics.
Only in the 1960s, with the theory of plate tectonics, did a convincing solution finally emerge.
The Origins of Islam: Tom Holland Explains New Book ‘In the Shadow of the Sword’ | Tom Holland | May 9, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
British Dictionary definitions for plate tectonics
(functioning as singular) geology the study of the structure of the earth's crust and mantle with reference to the theory that the earth's lithosphere is divided into large rigid blocks (plates) that are floating on semifluid rock and are thus able to interact with each other at their boundaries, and to the associated theories of continental drift and seafloor spreading
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for plate tectonics
In geology, a theory that the Earth's lithosphere (the crust and upper mantle) is divided into a number of large, platelike sections that move as distinct masses. The movement of the plates is believed to result from the presence of large convection cells in the Earth's mantle which allow the rigid plates to move over the relatively plastic asthenosphere. The theory of plate tectonics was developed in the 1960s in an effort to explain the jigsawlike pattern of the Earth's continents. See Note at fault. See more at tectonic boundary.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for plate tectonics
[ (tek-ton-iks) ]
In geology, a theory that explains the distribution of continents, earthquakes, volcanoes,, mountains and other geologic phenomena in terms of the formation, movement, and destruction of tectonic plates. These plates move in response to forces deep within the Earth. Because continents, such as North America, often ride piggy-back on plates, their movement is referred to as continental drift.
Notes for plate tectonics
Notes for plate tectonics
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.
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