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This is a list of tectonic plates on Earth's surface. Tectonic plates are pieces of Earth's crust and uppermost mantle , together referred to as the lithosphere . The plates are around 100 km (62 mi) thick and consist of two principal types of material: oceanic crust (also called sima from silicon and magnesium ) and continental crust ( sial ...
An oceanic or submarine plateau is a large, relatively flat elevation that is higher than the surrounding relief with one or more relatively steep sides. [ 1 ] There are 184 oceanic plateaus in the world, covering an area of 18,486,600 km 2 (7,137,700 sq mi) or about 5.11% of the oceans. [ 2 ]
This causes the oceanic plate to buckle and usually results in a new mid-ocean ridge forming and turning the obduction into subduction. [citation needed] Orogenic belts occur where two continental plates collide and push upwards to form large mountain ranges. These are also known as collision boundaries.
Satellite image of the Big Raven Plateau in British Columbia, Canada Rangipo Desert of the North Island Volcanic Plateau. Numerous tephra layers are visible. The Pajarito Plateau in New Mexico, United States is an example of a volcanic plateau. A volcanic plateau is a plateau produced by volcanic activity. There are two main types: lava ...
Bathymetry of the northeast corner of the Caribbean plate showing the major faults and plate boundaries; view looking south-west. The main bathymetric features of this area include: the Lesser Antilles Volcanic Arc; the old inactive volcanic arc of the Greater Antilles (Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Hispaniola); the Muertos Trough; and the Puerto Rico Trench formed at the plate boundary ...
The Nazca plate or Nasca plate, [2] named after the Nazca region of southern Peru, is an oceanic tectonic plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean basin off the west coast of South America. The ongoing subduction, along the Peru–Chile Trench, of the Nazca plate under the South American plate is largely responsible for the Andean orogeny.
The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as 'seabeds'. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of the ocean is very deep, where the seabed is known as the abyssal plain. Seafloor spreading creates ...
Mid-ocean ridge, also known as Oceanic ridge – Basaltic underwater mountain system formed by plate tectonic spreading; Oceanic trench – Long and narrow depressions of the sea floor; Paleoclimatology – Study of changes in ancient climate; Paleomap – Map of continents and mountain ranges in the past based on plate reconstructions