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Extensional tectonics is associated with the stretching and thinning of the crust or the lithosphere.This type of tectonics is found at divergent plate boundaries, in continental rifts, during and after a period of continental collision caused by the lateral spreading of the thickened crust formed, at releasing bends in strike-slip faults, in back-arc basins, and on the continental end of ...
The tectonic plates of the lithosphere on Earth Earth cutaway from center to surface, the lithosphere comprising the crust and lithospheric mantle (detail not to scale). A lithosphere (from Ancient Greek λίθος (líthos) 'rocky' and σφαίρα (sphaíra) 'sphere') is the rigid, [1] outermost rocky shell of a terrestrial planet or natural satellite.
Tectonic plates are composed of the oceanic lithosphere and the thicker continental lithosphere, each topped by its own kind of crust. Along convergent plate boundaries, the process of subduction carries the edge of one plate down under the other plate and into the mantle. This process reduces the total surface area (crust) of the Earth.
The Pacific plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At 103 million km 2 (40 million sq mi), it is the largest tectonic plate. [2] The plate first came into existence as a microplate 190 million years ago, at the triple junction between the Farallon, Phoenix, and Izanagi plates. The Pacific plate subsequently grew ...
Eurasian plate – Tectonic plate which includes most of Eurasia; Explorer plate – Oceanic tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Vancouver Island, Canada; Farallon plate – Ancient oceanic plate that has mostly subducted under the North American plate; Gorda plate – One of the northern remnants of the Farallon plate
One example of these areas is in the western Pacific, where the presence of a submerged plate should be impossible, as there’s been no subduction zone nearby in recent geologic history. And yet ...
Tectonic uplift is the geologic uplift of Earth's surface that is attributed to plate tectonics. While isostatic response is important, an increase in the mean elevation of a region can only occur in response to tectonic processes of crustal thickening (such as mountain building events), changes in the density distribution of the crust and ...
Movements of tectonic plates and the formation of oceanic ridges and trenches. Convergent boundary: the plates collide, and eventually the denser one slides underneath the lighter one, a process known as subduction. This type of interaction can take place between an oceanic and an oceanic crust, creating a so-called oceanic trench.