tectonic plates
CulturalDiscover More
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As the tectonic plates shifted, the crust in this region was pulled apart and fractured, opening progressively from east to west, much like a zipper being undone.
From Science Daily
The King's Trough offers a clear example of how deep mantle processes and shifting tectonic plates interact.
From Science Daily
He said "the old order isn't coming back," adding: "The tectonic plates have shifted. There is profound change".
From BBC
The Mendocino Triple Junction lies offshore from Humboldt County, where three major tectonic plates converge.
From Science Daily
The instruments recorded extremely small "low-frequency" earthquakes that occur where tectonic plates slowly slide against or over one another.
From Science Daily
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
