Courses
Courses for Kids
Free study material
Offline Centres
More
Store Icon
Store
seo-qna
SearchIcon
banner

How are continents and tectonic plates related?

Answer
VerifiedVerified
547.8k+ views
Hint: Tectonic plates are made out of oceanic lithosphere and thicker continental lithosphere, each bested by its own sort of crust. Along with concurrent limits, subduction (one plate moving under another) conveys the lower one down into the mantle. The material lost is generally adjusted by the development of a new oceanic crust along different edges via seafloor spreading. The complete surface of the lithosphere remains as before. Prior speculations, since disproven, proposed continuous contracting (withdrawal) or progressive development of the globe.

Complete answer: Continents and tectonic plates are connected on the grounds that continents have tectonic plates underneath them. Each continent has at least one tectonic plate under them.
A tectonic plate can additionally be called a lithospheric plate. A tectonic plate is a monstrous, unpredictably molded piece of strong and solid rock which is generally made out of both continental and oceanic lithosphere. Plate size can shift enormously, from two or three hundred to thousands of kilometers across. The Pacific and Antarctic Plates are among the biggest. Plate thickness likewise fluctuates significantly, going from under 15 km for youthful maritime lithosphere to around 200 km or more for old mainland lithosphere (for instance, the inside pieces of North and South America).
Geologists generally conclude that the accompanying tectonic plates at present exist on Earth's surface with generally determinable limits. Tectonic plates are in some cases partitioned into three genuinely discretionary classes: major (or essential) plates, minor (or optional) plates, and microplates (or tertiary plates).

Note: The hypothesis of plate tectonics expresses that the Earth's strong external layer which is known as the upper crust, the lithosphere, is isolated into plates that move over the asthenosphere, the liquid upper part of the mantle.