tectonic boundary

American  

noun

1. Geology. plate boundary.

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tectonic boundary Scientific  

1. In the theory of plate tectonics, a boundary between two or more plates. The plates can be moving toward each other (at convergent plate boundaries), away from each other (at divergent plate boundaries), or past each other (at transform faults). Maps of seismic and volcanic activity across the Earth indicate that most earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur along or near tectonic boundaries. This is because earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are caused by the scraping, pushing, pulling, and melting of the Earth's lithosphere along these boundaries.

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Example Sentences

But the Hawaiian Islands are 2,000 miles from the nearest tectonic boundary, and their existence puzzled geologists for centuries.

From New York Times • Dec. 3, 2022

The San Andreas fault, which forms the tectonic boundary between Earth’s Pacific Plate and North American Plate, for example, varies in width from metres to a kilometre—too narrow to show up in Magellan topographic data.

From Scientific American • Jun. 12, 2019

California lies on the San Andreas Fault, which forms the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, two of the large moving plates that form the Earth's crust.

From BBC • Aug. 25, 2014