tectonic plate

American  

[tek-tan-ik playt] / tɛkˈtan ɪk ˌpleɪt /

noun

1. Geology. a solid, massive slab of the earth's lithosphere, always in motion atop the softer mantle, touching and shifting other tectonic plates, which together cover the entire earth and whose collisions can be intense enough to create volcanoes, mountains, and earthquakes.

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Example Sentences

The Pioneer fragment was once part of the Farallon plate, an ancient tectonic plate that once extended along the California coastline and has since mostly disappeared.

From Science Daily • Jan. 17, 2026

Thanks to their location close to tectonic plate fault lines, South Pacific islands are surrounded by potentially enormous mineral deposits.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 27, 2025

This discovery resolves a long-standing geological puzzle: why certain ocean islands located far from tectonic plate boundaries contain chemical signatures that look distinctly continental, even though they lie in the middle of vast oceans.

From Science Daily • Nov. 12, 2025

A 559-mile long fault line located off Japan’s Pacific coast characterized by its subduction, in which one tectonic plate is forced under another, the Nankai Trough has produced devastating earthquakes every 90 to 200 years.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 8, 2025

And on a scale as large as a tectonic plate, a little bit of motion combined with a lot of stickiness can build up an enormous amount of energy.

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland