Tectonic plate

A tectonic plate is a moving section of Earth’s rigid outer shell, comprising crust and uppermost mantle. Plates interact at boundaries where they diverge, converge, or slide past one another.

Plate boundary: A zone where two tectonic plates meet and interact. Boundaries are where plate motion produces most earthquakes, volcanism, and crustal deformation.
Lithosphere: Earth’s rigid outer layer, consisting of the crust and the uppermost mantle. A tectonic plate is a moving piece of lithosphere.
Alfred Wegener: A German meteorologist who proposed continental drift in the early twentieth century. His proposal anticipated plate motion but lacked an accepted mechanism.
Mid-Atlantic Ridge: A divergent plate boundary forming a submarine mountain chain through the Atlantic Ocean. It is a clear example of plates separating and creating oceanic crust.
Earthquake: Ground shaking caused by the sudden release of stored energy in Earth’s crust or upper mantle. Plate-boundary stress builds until faults slip and release seismic energy.
Seafloor spreading: The formation of new oceanic crust as magma rises at a mid-ocean ridge and solidifies. It creates oceanic plate material and pushes plates apart.
Asthenosphere: A weak, deformable region of the upper mantle beneath the lithosphere. Its ability to flow slowly allows rigid plates to move above it.
Continental drift: The hypothesis that continents move across Earth’s surface over geological time. It proposed large-scale motion later explained through moving plates.
Andes: A mountain range along the western edge of South America, formed largely through subduction-related processes. The Nazca Plate’s descent beneath South America drives its volcanism and uplift.
Volcano: An opening in Earth’s crust through which magma, gases, and volcanic material can erupt. Plate boundaries generate magma through subduction, rifting, and related processes.

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