tectonic plates

Cultural  

1. The dozen or so plates that make up the surface of the Earth. Their motion is studied in the field of plate tectonics.

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The plates are not the same as the continents. The North American plate, for example, extends from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean to the west coast of the United States and Canada. These plates are about thirty miles thick.

Example Sentences

This idea describes how hot, dense rock gradually detaches from the base of tectonic plates after continents split, behaving somewhat like blobs rising and falling in a lava lamp.

From Science Daily

“Reuther shifted the tectonic plates under American capitalism in favor of labor,” says Nelson Lichtenstein, a history professor at University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of “The Most Dangerous Man in Detroit: Walter Reuther and the Fate of American Labor.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Regular earthquakes happen when stresses that accumulate as tectonic plates grind together over centuries or millennia are suddenly released, creating intense shaking that lasts only seconds.

From Science Daily

The tectonic plates under the city are naturally settling, a process accelerated in the 20th century by the pumping of groundwater for use in the industrial port of neighboring Marghera.

From New York Times

After news of an earthquake, a random subway passenger says, “Sea-level change. More water, more weight on the tectonic plates.”

From New York Times