Outline of plate tectonics

Simplified map of Earth's principal tectonic plates, which were mapped in the second half of the 20th century (red arrows indicate direction of movement at plate boundaries)

Plate tectonics (from the Late Latin: tectonicus, from the Ancient Greek: τεκτονικός, lit. 'pertaining to building') is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large tectonic plates which have been slowly moving since about 3.4 billion years ago. The model builds on the concept of continental drift, an idea developed during the first decades of the 20th century. Plate tectonics came to be generally accepted by geoscientists after seafloor spreading was validated in the mid to late 1960s.

Earth's lithosphere, which is the rigid outermost shell of a planet (the crust and upper mantle), is broken into seven or eight major plates (depending on how they are defined) and many minor plates. Where the plates meet, their relative motion determines the type of boundary: convergent, divergent, or transform. Earthquakes, volcanic activity, mountain-building, and oceanic trench formation occur along these plate boundaries (or faults). The relative movement of the plates typically ranges from zero to 10 cm annually.

Tectonic plates are composed of the oceanic lithosphere and the thicker continental lithosphere, each topped by its own kind of crust. Along convergent boundaries, the process of subduction, or one plate moving under another, carries the edge of the lower one down into the mantle; the area of material lost is roughly balanced by the formation of new (oceanic) crust along divergent margins by seafloor spreading. In this way, the total geoid surface area of the lithosphere remains constant. This prediction of plate tectonics is also referred to as the conveyor belt principle. Earlier theories, since disproven, proposed gradual shrinking (contraction) or gradual expansion of the globe.

Tectonic plates are able to move because Earth's lithosphere has greater mechanical strength than the underlying asthenosphere. Lateral density variations in the mantle result in convection; that is, the slow creeping motion of Earth's solid mantle. Plate movement is thought to be driven by a combination of the motion of the seafloor away from spreading ridges due to variations in topography (the ridge is a topographic high) and density changes in the crust (density increases as newly-formed crust cools and moves away from the ridge). At subduction zones the relatively cold, dense oceanic crust is "pulled" or sinks down into the mantle over the downward convecting limb of a mantle cell. The relative importance of each of these factors and their relationship to each other is unclear, and still the subject of much debate. (Full article...)

• Asthenosphere – Highly viscous, mechanically weak and ductile region of Earth's mantle
• Aulacogen – Failed arm of a triple junction, an inactive rift zone
• Back-arc basin – Submarine features associated with island arcs and subduction zones
• Bimodal volcanism – Eruption of both mafic and felsic lavas from a single volcanic centre
• Continent – Very large landmass identified by convention
• Crust – The outermost solid shell of a rocky planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite
• Epeirogenic movement – Upheavals or depressions of land exhibiting long wavelengths and little folding
• Fault (geology) – Fracture or discontinuity in rock across which there has been displacement
  • Fault mechanics – Field of study that investigates the behavior of geologic faults
  • Active fault – Geological fault likely to be the source of an earthquake sometime in the future
• Flux melting – The process by which the melting point is reduced by the admixture of a material known as a flux
• Geodynamics – Study of dynamics of the Earth
• Island arc – Arc-shaped archipelago formed by intense seismic activity of long chains of active volcanoes
• Mantle – Layer inside a planet between core and crust
• Mohorovičić discontinuity – Boundary between the Earth's crust and the mantle
• Mountain – Large landform that rises fairly steeply above the surrounding land over a limited area
• Mid-ocean ridge, also known as Oceanic ridge – Basaltic underwater mountain system formed by plate tectonic spreading
• Oceanic trench – Long and narrow depressions of the sea floor
• Paleoclimatology – Study of changes in ancient climate
• Paleomap – Map of continents and mountain ranges in the past based on plate reconstructions
• Seamount – Mountain rising from the ocean seafloor that does not reach to the water's surface
• Slab (geology) – The portion of a tectonic plate that is being subducted
• Slab gap hypothesis – Explanation for several instances of crustal extension that occur inland near former subduction zones
• Slab window – Type of gap in a subducted oceanic plate
• Supercontinent – Landmass comprising more than one continental core, or craton
• Terrane – Fragment of crust formed on one tectonic plate and accreted to another
• Volcano – Rupture in the crust of a planet that allows lava, ash, and gases to escape from below the surface

Back-arc basin – Submarine features associated with island arcs and subduction zones

Continent – Very large landmass identified by convention

• Africa – Continent
• Antarctica – Continent
• Asia – Continent
• Australia (continent) – One of Earth’s seven main divisions of land
• Europe – Continent
• North America – Continent in the Northern Hemisphere
• South America – Continent

Supercontinent – Landmass comprising more than one continental core, or craton

• Eurasia – Combined landmasses of Europe and Asia

Earthquake – Shaking of the surface of the earth caused by a sudden release of energy in the crust

• Blind thrust earthquake – Movement along a thrust fault that is not visible at the surface
• Intraplate earthquake – Earthquake that occurs within the interior of a tectonic plate
• Interplate earthquake – Earthquake that occurs at the boundary between two tectonic plates
• Megathrust earthquake – Type of earthquake that occurs at subduction zones at destructive convergent plate boundaries

Ocean – Body of salt water covering the majority of Earth

Orogeny – The formation of mountain ranges

• List of orogenies – Known mountain building events of the Earth's history
• Mountain formation – Geological processes that underlie the formation of mountains
• Fold mountains – Mountains formed by compressive crumpling of the layers of rock
• Algoman orogeny – Late Archaean episode of mountain building in what is now North America

Rift – Geological linear zone where the lithosphere is being pulled apart

• Mid-ocean ridge – Basaltic underwater mountain system formed by plate tectonic spreading
• Saint Lawrence rift system – Seismically active zone paralleling the Saint Lawrence River

Subduction zone – A geological process at convergent tectonic plate boundaries where one plate moves under the other

• Middle America Trench – Subduction zone in the eastern Pacific off the southwestern coast of Middle America

Suture (geology) – Joining together of separate terranes along a major fault zone

• Great Falls Tectonic Zone – Major intracontinental shear zone between the Hearne craton and Wyoming craton
• Huincul Fault – East-west oriented continental-scale fault that extends from the Neuquén Basin eastwards into the Argentine Shelf
• Iapetus Suture – One of several major geological faults caused by the collision of several ancient land masses forming a suture
• Indus-Yarlung suture zone – Tectonic suture in southern Tibet and across the north margin of the Himalayas where the Indian and Eurasian plates meet
• Jormua Ophiolite – Remnant of ancient oceanic lithosphere near Jormua, Finland
• Magallanes-Fagnano Fault – Continental transform fault between the Scotia Plate and the South American Plate
• Morais ophiolite complex – Metamorphic complex of oceanic and continental crust terranes in Portugal
• Periadriatic Seam – The border between the Adriatic and European plates
• Pieniny Klippen Belt – Zone in the Western Carpathians, with a very complex geological structure
• Trans-European Suture Zone – Boundary between the East European Craton and the orogens of South-Western Europe
• Vulcan structure – Convergent tectonic boundary between the Medicine Hat and Loverna Blocks in North America

Tectonic plate – Continuous section of the lithosphere of the Earth which is moving relative to adjacent plates

• List of tectonic plates – List of the relatively moving sections of the lithosphere of Earth
• African Plate – A major tectonic plate underlying Africa west of the East African Rift
• Anatolian Plate – Continental tectonic plate comprising most of the Anatolia (Asia Minor) peninsula
• Antarctic Plate – Tectonic plate containing Antarctica and the surrounding ocean floor
• Arabian Plate – Minor tectonic plate
• Burma Plate – Minor tectonic plate in Southeast Asia
• Cocos Plate – Young oceanic tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Central America
• Eurasian Plate – Tectonic plate which includes most of the continent 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
• Indian Plate – A minor tectonic plate that got separated from Gondwana
• Juan de Fuca Plate – Tectonic plate in the eastern North Pacific
• Halmahera Plate – Small tectonic plate in the Molucca Sea
• Indo-Australian Plate – A major tectonic plate formed by the fusion of the Indian and Australian plates
• Pacific Plate – Oceanic tectonic plate under the Pacific Ocean
• Molucca Sea Plate – Small fully subducted tectonic plate near Indonesia
• Nazca Plate – Oceanic tectonic plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean basin
• North American Plate – Large tectonic plate including most of North America, Greenland and part of Siberia
• Philippine Sea Plate – Oceanic tectonic plate to the east of the Philippines
• South American Plate – Major tectonic plate which includes most of South America and a large part of the south Atlantic
• Sunda Plate – A minor tectonic plate including most of Southeast Asia

Terrane – Fragment of crust formed on one tectonic plate and accreted to another

• Arctic Alaska-Chukotka terrane – Terrane that includes parts of Alaska, Siberia and the continental shelf between them
• Arequipa-Antofalla – South American geology
• Armorican Massif – Geologic massif that covers a large area in the northwest of France
• Armorican terrane – Microcontinent or group of continental fragments rifted away from Gondwana
• Avalonia – Microcontinent in the Paleozoic era named for the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland
• Briançonnais zone – Piece of continental crust in the Penninic nappes of the Alps
• Bronson Hill Arc – Bimodal volcanic arc and associated Ordovician sediments
• Buffalo Head Terrane – Terrane in the western Canadian Shield in northern Alberta
• Cache Creek Terrane – Geologic terrane in British Columbia and southern Yukon, Canada
• Carolina terrane – Exotic terrane from central Georgia to central Virginia in the United States
• Cassiar Terrane – Cretaceous terrane located in the Northern Interior of British Columbia and southern Yukon
• Chilenia – Ancient microcontinent, containing central Chile and western Argentina
• Chiloé Block – Ancient microcontinent or terrane that collided with the South American Plate during the Proterozoic
• Cuyania – Ancient microcontinent now part of Argentina
• Cymru Terrane – Inferred fault bounded terrane of the basement rocks of the southern United Kingdom
• Florida Platform – Flat geological feature with the emergent portion forming the Florida peninsula
• Franciscan Assemblage
• Ganderia – Terrane in the northern Appalachians which broke off the supercontinent Gondwana
• Gascoyne Complex – Terrane of Proterozoic granite and metamorphic rock in Western Australia
• Great Lakes tectonic zone
• Great Valley Sequence – Group of late Mesozoic formations in the Cental Valley of California
• Hebridean Terrane – Part of the Caledonian orogenic belt in northwest Scotland
• Hottah terrane – Paleoproterozoic terrane in the northwestern end of the Canadian Shield
• Irumide Belt – Mesoproterozoic terrane on the southern margin of the Bangweulu Block in Zambia
• Ivrea zone – Tectonic terrane in the Italian Alps
• Lhasa terrane – Fragment of crustal material, sutured to the Eurasian Plate during the Cretaceous that forms present-day southern Tibet
• Madre de Dios Terrane – Distinct fragment of Earth's crust in southwestern Patagonia
• Meguma terrane – Terrane exposed in southern Nova Scotia
• Narooma Terrane – Geological structural region on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia
• Narryer Gneiss Terrane – Geological complex of ancient rocks in Western Australia
• Omineca Arc – Volcanic arc terrane in western North America
• Pampia – Ancient microcontinent or terrane
• Pelso Plate – Small tectonic unit in the Pannonian Basin in Europe
• Salinian Block – Terrane west of the main trace of the San Andreas Fault system in California
• Shan–Thai Terrane – Mass of continental crust extending from Tibet into Southeast Asia
• Slide Mountain Terrane – Late Paleozoic terrane in British Columbia, Canada
• Smartville Block – Volcanic arc accreted onto the North American Plate
• Sonoma Volcanics – Geologic formation of volcanic origin in California
• Sonomia Terrane – Crustal block accreted onto the North American Plate in Northwest Nevada
• Spavinaw terrane – Intrusive and volcanic rocks in the mid-continent region of the United States
• Stikinia – Terrane in British Columbia, Canada
• Tuareg Shield – Geological formation between the West African craton and the Saharan Metacraton in West Africa
• Western Gneiss Region – Large geological unit in Norway, part of the Baltic shield
• Wrangellia Terrane – Geological area in northwestern North America
• Wrekin Terrane – Inferred basement rock terrane of the southern United Kingdom
• Yakutat Block – Terrane in the process of accreting to the North American continent along the south central coast of Alaska
• Yukon–Tanana Terrane – Largest tectonostratigraphic terrane in the northern North American Cordillera

Triple junction – Meeting point of three tectonic plates

• Aden-Owen-Carlsberg Triple Junction – The junction of three tectonic plate boundaries in the northwest Indian Ocean
• Afar Triple Junction – Place where three tectonic rifts meet in East Africa
• Azores Triple Junction – Tectonic plates intersection
• Banda Sea Triple Junction – Point where three tectonic plates meet
• Boso Triple Junction – The meeting point of the Okhotsk Plate, the Pacific Plate, and the Philippine Sea Plate
• Bouvet Triple Junction – Meeting point of three tectonic plates
• Chile Triple Junction – Place where the South American, Nazca and Antarctic tectonic plates meet
• Fifteen-Twenty Fracture Zone – Fracture zone on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
• Mount Fuji – Volcano in Yamanashi and Shizuoka Prefectures, Japan
• Galapagos Triple Junction – Place where the boundaries of the Cocos Plate, the Nazca Plate, and the Pacific Plate meet
• Iapetus Suture – One of several major geological faults caused by the collision of several ancient land masses forming a suture
• Kamchatka-Aleutian Triple Junction – Place where the Pacific Plate, the Okhotsk Plate, and the North American Plate meet
• Karlıova Triple Junction – Place where the Anatolian Plate, the Eurasian Plate and the Arabian Plate meet
• Macquarie Triple Junction – Place where the Indo-Australian Plate, Pacific Plate, and Antarctic Plate meet
• Mendocino Triple Junction – Point where the Gorda plate, the North American plate, and the Pacific plate meet
• Queen Charlotte Triple Junction – Point where the Pacific Plate, the North American Plate, and the Explorer Plate meet
• Rivera Triple Junction – Place where the North American Plate, the Rivera Plate, and the Pacific Plate meet
• Rodrigues Triple Junction – Place where the African Plate, the Indo-Australian Plate, and the Antarctic Plate meet
• Tongareva triple junction – Defunct triple junction of the Pacific Plate, the Farallon Plate, and the Phoenix Plate

• Computational Infrastructure for Geodynamics – Organization that advances Earth science
• Paleoclimatology – Study of changes in ancient climate
• Paleomap – Map of continents and mountain ranges in the past based on plate reconstructions
• Plate reconstruction – Process of reconstructing the positions of tectonic plates in the geological past
• Timeline of the development of tectonophysics (after 1952) – Chronological listing of significant events in the history of tectonophysics
• Timeline of the development of tectonophysics (before 1954) – Chronological listing of significant events in the history of tectonophysics
• Vine–Matthews–Morley hypothesis – First key scientific test of the seafloor spreading theory of continental drift and plate tectonics
• Eclogitization – The tectonic process in which the dense, high-pressure, metamorphic rock, eclogite, is formed

(to be reallocated)

• Alpine Fault – Right-lateral strike-slip fault, that runs almost the entire length of New Zealand's South Island.
• Benham Rise, also known as Benham Plateau – Extinct volcanic ridge in the Philippine Sea
• Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain – Mostly-undersea mountain range in the Pacific Ocean that reaches above sea level in Hawaii.
• Geology of the Alps – The formation and structure of the European Alps
• Indian subcontinent – Physiographical region in South Asia
• Mariana Trench – Deepest oceanic trench on Earth
• Mid-Atlantic Ridge – Atlantic Ocean tectonic plate boundary
• Mohorovičić discontinuity – Boundary between the Earth's crust and the mantle
• Molucca Sea Collision Zone – Region of complex tectonic activity in Indonesia
• Pacific-Antarctic Ridge – Tectonic plate boundary in the South Pacific Ocean
• Philippine Mobile Belt – Tectonic boundary
• Ring of Fire – Region around the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur
• San Andreas Fault – Geologic fault in California and Mexico
• Tethys Ocean, also known as Tethys Sea – Mesozoic ocean between Gondwana and Laurasia