Boundaries of the earth's plates and their names. The theory of lithospheric plates: who founded it and what is the largest? The force that moves the plates

How did continents and islands appear? What determines the name of the largest plates of the Earth? Where did our planet come from?

How it all began?

Everyone has thought at least once about the origin of our planet. For deeply religious people, everything is simple: God created the Earth in 7 days, period. They are unshakable in their confidence, even knowing the names of the largest ones formed as a result of the evolution of the planet’s surface. For them, the birth of our stronghold is a miracle, and no arguments of geophysicists, naturalists and astronomers can convince them.

The plates roll around the asthenosphere, sometimes moving apart, sometimes past each other, and at other times moving together at the boundaries of the plates. Using a global positioning system over several years, the plates were measured to move from a few millimeters to 20 cm per year. Over many millions of years, this could mean thousands of kilometers of movement.

Where are the tectonic plates?

In principle, all knowledge of science can be changed. The main plates are Antarctic, African, Eurasian, Australian, Pacific, North American, South American and Nazca. There are also several small plates such as Indian, Arabic, Caribbean and Filipino. Some plates have only oceanic crust, which is thinner and usually lies below sea level - others have both oceanic and continental crust, which lies above sea level.

Scientists, however, have a different opinion, based on hypotheses and assumptions. They make guesses, put forward versions and come up with a name for everything. This also affected the largest plates of the Earth.

On this moment It is not known for certain how our firmament appeared, but there are many interesting opinions. It was the scientists who unanimously decided that there once existed a single gigantic continent, as a result of cataclysms and natural processes split into pieces. Scientists also came up with not only the names of the largest plates of the Earth, but also designated the small ones.

These tile boundaries are associated with geological events such as earthquakes and the creation of mountains, volcanoes and ocean trenches. Most of the world's active volcanoes occur along plate boundaries—the most active is the Pacific Plate's Ring of Fire.

Three types of plate boundaries

New Zealand sits right on the edge of two tectonic plates - Australia and Pacific Ocean- and we get a lot of action that goes with it! Plate boundaries are characterized by the movement of plates and are associated with various types surface phenomena. The plates move past each other, but due to friction they cannot simply slide past each other to build up tension, which is released like an earthquake. The plates move apart from each other, and the space this creates is filled with a new crust of magma formed lower in the asthenosphere. These boundaries can create large fault zones that are a major source of undersea earthquakes. Converging boundaries. The plate slides towards each other. When one plate moves under another, it is known as a subduction zone, associated with deep sea trenches and volcanoes - some of the most explosive on Earth.

  • Transform boundaries.
  • An example of this type is the New Zealand alpine bug.
  • Divergent boundaries.
Where two continental plates collide, they will either hide or compress, or one plate will transition or override the other, creating vast mountain ranges.

A theory bordering on science fiction

For example, Pierre Laplace, scientists from Germany, believed that the Universe emerged from a gas nebula, and the Earth was a gradually cooling planet, Earth's crust which is nothing more than a cooled surface.

Another scientist believed that the Sun, when passing through a gas and dust cloud, captured part of it with itself. His version is that our Earth was never a completely molten substance and was originally a cold planet.

What happens when plates move

When two plates of oceanic crust collide, they typically create an island as one plate descends below the other. The theory of plate tectonics is based on several basic principles. Key Concepts include:; dishes; convection; the observation that the most active geology occurs at plate boundaries; and the Wilson cycle, a concept that describes the life cycles of the oceans and continents.

The outer shell of the Earth is made of cool, brittle rock called... Oceanic and continental lithosphere and asthenosphere. Marine floors make up the denser, thinner part of the lithosphere. The continental crust forms the less dense, thicker part. The plastic layer below is called the asthenosphere.

According to the theory of the English scientist Fred Hoyle, the Sun had its own twin star, which exploded like a supernova. Almost all the fragments were thrown over vast distances, and the small number remaining around the Sun turned into planets. One of these fragments became the cradle of humanity.

Version as an axiom

The most common story of the origin of the Earth is as follows:

Past plate movements

Capable of being deformed without breaking; "stupid putty" is an example. The lithosphere breaks down into individual plates that include continents and ocean basins. World map showing tectonic plates. This map shows the locations of the major tectonic plates on earth's surface. Note that larger plates include both ocean basins and continents. The plates are made from the lithosphere, the cool, fragile outer rocky shell of the Earth.

The plates are moved by convection currents flowing in the warm plastic zone of the asthenosphere under the plates. Convection. Convection currents are powered by heat deep within the earth. As material warms, it becomes less dense and rises near mid-ocean ridges. As heated material moves further away from the heat source, it cools, becomes denser, and begins to sink. This cycle of heating and cooling is called convection current. Convection currents can occur both on solid ground and in water and air.

  • About 7 billion years ago, the primary cold planet formed, after which its interior began to gradually warm up.
  • Then, during the so-called “lunar era,” red-hot lava poured out onto the surface in gigantic quantities. This entailed the formation of the primary atmosphere and served as an impetus for the formation of the earth's crust - the lithosphere.
  • Thanks to the primary atmosphere, oceans appeared on the planet, as a result of which the Earth was covered with a dense shell, representing the outlines of oceanic depressions and continental protrusions. In those distant times, the area of ​​water significantly prevailed over the area of ​​land. By the way, the upper part of the mantle is called the lithosphere, which forms lithospheric plates that make up the general “shape” of the Earth. The names of the largest plates correspond to their geographical location.

Giant rift

How did continents and lithospheric plates form? About 250 million years ago, the Earth looked completely different from what it does now. Then on our planet there was only one, simply gigantic continent called Pangea. His total area was impressive and equal to the area of ​​all existing continents, including islands. Pangea was washed on all sides by an ocean called Panthalassa. This huge ocean occupied the entire remaining surface of the planet.

For example, convection currents in the atmosphere are forceful weather systems. Nothing on the Earth's surface has fixed coordinates because the surface is always shifting. Supposedly they should constantly update location coordinates, but how? But they are always a step behind the restless landscape. Geological activity can create significant errors in the maps on your screens. This is not difficult to do for your own experiments.

In the grand scheme of things it's not much, but it makes you wary high levels scaling. Hudnut says he sees map bloopers all the time in his field work. For the most part, misalignments do not represent actual geological changes, but occur because it is difficult to collect an airborne or orbital image on a latitude-longitude grid. The image must be aligned with the reference points set on the ground. The photo on the left shows one near my house.

However, the existence of the supercontinent turned out to be short-lived. Processes were seething inside the Earth, as a result of which the substance of the mantle began to spread in different directions, gradually stretching the continent. Because of this, Pangea first split into two parts, forming two continents - Laurasia and Gondwana. Then these continents gradually split into many parts, which gradually dispersed in different directions. In addition to new continents, lithospheric plates appeared. From the names of the largest plates, it becomes clear in which places giant faults formed.

But the process of ground card rubbing is never perfect. Moreover, survey coordinates may be inaccurate or completely incorrect. We found it helpful to keep the label updated. Errors also creep in because the latitude and longitude grid is not a god, but must be tied to the planet's shape model. This is what plate tectonics talks about. Civilian optimized for shooting in North America; the military sacrifices internal accuracy for global coverage.

Plate tectonics as a system of sciences

The displacement, reaching 100 meters, reflected a more accurate model of the Earth's shape. The remnants of the old binding are delayed. Only later did they discover that they had drawn a meridian about 100 meters east of the historic prime meridian at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.

The remains of Gondwana are the Australia and Antarctica we know, as well as the South African and African lithospheric plates. It has been proven that these plates are gradually moving apart in our time - the speed of movement is 2 cm per year.


The fragments of Laurasia turned into two lithospheric plates - North American and Eurasian. Moreover, Eurasia consists not only of a fragment of Laurasia, but also of parts of Gondwana. The names of the largest plates that form Eurasia are Hindustan, Arabian and Eurasian.

Clock tectonics is one of the reasons. Essentially, it is anchored deep within the Earth. Geodesists seeking to untangle latitude and longitude from the movements of any individual plate suggest that tectonic plates are like locking gears - when one moves, everyone does - and that if you add up all their rotational speeds, they should add up to zero. The effect of not linking coordinates to a single table is that the surveyed positions and the maps built on them change over time.

When the plate moves, snapping also occurs. Other regions of the world also have their own local databases. We are trying to make the planet non-dynamic. The compromise to keep surveyors happy is that the North American latitude and longitude grid is increasingly out of sync with the rest of the world. The "rest of the world" includes southern California, which straddles the North American and Pacific plates. The Pacific plate creeps a couple of centimeters to the northwest each year relative to the rest of the plate North America.

Africa takes a direct part in the formation of the Eurasian continent. Its lithospheric plate is slowly moving closer to the Eurasian plate, forming mountains and hills. It was because of this “union” that the Carpathians, Pyrenees, Alps and Sudetes appeared.

List of lithospheric plates

The names of the largest plates are as follows:

  • South American;
  • Australian;
  • Eurasian;
  • North American;
  • Antarctic;
  • Pacific;
  • South American;
  • Hindustan.

Medium sized slabs are:

The plate boundary is not sharp, so the actual momentum varies in a complex way. Like Smith, Bock says more frequent modifications would indeed complicate matters: "Surveyors don't like it if the coordinates change, so it's a bit of a trade-off." For localized line drawing this is not a big deal, but large-scale projects such as California's high-speed rail system must keep pace with tectonic movement.

Things obviously get more interesting during earthquakes. What the earthquake will do is equivalent to what you would do with a pair of scissors if you cut a map diagonally along a fault line and then slide one side of the map toward the other, Hudnut says. The alignment of the Aberdeen Road, which crosses the fault, is changing noticeably. The earthquake displaced the ground near the fault by several meters.

  • Arabian;
  • Nazca;
  • Scotia;
  • Philippine;
  • Coconut;
  • Juan de Fuca.

Theory lithospheric plates- the most interesting direction in geography. As modern scientists suggest, the entire lithosphere is divided into blocks that drift in top layer. Their speed is 2-3 cm per year. They are called lithospheric plates.

Berkeley, based on data from the Japan Geospatial Information Agency. Coastline near the earthquake it moved horizontally by as much as 4 meters. The video also shows waves pouring out over Japan. Tectonic activity adjustments take time to filter through to maps. She says the maps are updated every three years. But the romantic in me prefers to see outdated cards. They never allow us to forget about the dynamism of our planet.

Founder of the theory of lithospheric plates

Diagrams courtesy of Michael Dennis of the National Geodetic Survey; screenshot and photo by George Musser. According to the theory of plate tectonics, the Earth's crust and upper mantle are broken up into moving plates of the "lithosphere." The earth has two types of crust. The continental crust underlies much of the Earth's surface. oceanic crust. These materials have different compositions. Continental crust is less dense than oceanic crust.

Founder of the theory of lithospheric plates

Who founded the theory of lithospheric plates? A. Wegener was one of the first to make the assumption in 1920 that the plates move horizontally, but it was not supported. And only in the 60s, a survey of the ocean floor confirmed his assumption.

The resurrection of these ideas led to the creation of the modern theory of tectonics. Its most important provisions were determined by a team of geophysicists from America D. Morgan, J. Oliver, L. Sykes and others in 1967-68.

Map of the world's lithospheric plates

They are slow, moving at speeds ranging from centimeters to tens of centimeters per year. They slide along the upper layer of the mantle, called the asthenosphere, which is made of less rigid, almost viscous rock. The plates are layers of tough, hard rock. As they move, the plates interact at their edges or boundaries. There are three main areas or types of boundary interactions. In some places the two plates move apart from each other; this is called the divergent plate boundary.

Scientists cannot say for sure what causes such displacements and how the boundaries are formed. Back in 1910, Wegener believed that at the very beginning of the Paleozoic period the Earth consisted of two continents.

Laurasia covered the area of ​​present-day Europe, Asia (India was not included), and North America. It was the northern continent. Gondwana included South America, Africa, Australia.

Elsewhere, two plates move together, called a convergent plate boundary. Finally, the plates can slide past each other horizontally. This is called the conversion plate boundary. Volcanoes and earthquakes help define boundaries between plates. Volcanoes form primarily at convergent and divergent plate boundaries, where a lot of magma is produced. Earthquakes occur at all three types of boundaries. Because the plates are rigid, they tend to stick together even though they are constantly moving.

When the strength of rocks at a plate boundary is exceeded, they move quickly, “catching up” with the rest of the plate. We feel this release of energy like an earthquake. This activity focuses on allowing students to put the information they have learned in previous years into perspective.

Somewhere two hundred million years ago, these two continents united into one - Pangea. And 180 million years ago it again divided into two. Subsequently, Laurasia and Gondwana were also divided. Due to this split, the oceans were formed. Moreover, Wegener found evidence that confirmed his hypothesis about a single continent.

Map of the world's lithospheric plates

Over the billions of years during which the plates moved, their fusion and separation occurred repeatedly. The strength and energy of continental movement is greatly influenced by the internal temperature of the Earth. As it increases, the speed of plate movement increases.


How many plates and how are lithospheric plates located on the world map today? Their boundaries are very arbitrary. Now there are 8 important plates. They cover 90% of the entire planet's territory:

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  • Australian;
  • Antarctic;
  • African;
  • Eurasian;
  • Hindustan;
  • Pacific;
  • North American;
  • South American.

Scientists constantly inspect and analyze the ocean floor and explore faults. New slabs are opened and the lines of old ones are adjusted.

Largest lithospheric plate

What is the largest lithospheric plate? The most impressive is the Pacific plate, the crust of which has an oceanic type of composition. Its area is 10,300,000 km². The size of this plate, like the size of the Pacific Ocean, is gradually decreasing.

In the south it borders the Antarctic Plate. On the northern side it creates the Aleutian Trench, and on the western side it creates the Mariana Trench.

Not far from California, where the eastern border lies, the plate moves along the length of the North American. This is where the San Andreas Fault forms.

What happens when plates move


In their movement, lithospheric plates of the earth can diverge, merge, and slide with their neighbors. In the first option, tensile areas with cracks are formed between them along the boundary lines.

In the second option, compression zones form, which are accompanied by pushing (obduction) of the plates onto each other. In the third case, faults are observed along the length of which they slide. In those places where the plates converge, they collide. This leads to the formation of mountains.

As a result of collision, lithospheric plates form:

  1. Tectonic faults called rift valleys. They form in stretch zones;
  2. In the case when a collision of plates with a continental type of crust occurs, then they speak of convergent boundaries. This causes the formation of large mountain systems. The Alpine-Himalayan system was the result of the collision of three plates: Eurasian, Indo-Australian, African;
  3. If plates with different types of crust collide (one is continental, the other is oceanic), mountains form on the coast, and deep depressions (trenches) occur in the ocean. An example of such a formation is the Andes and the Peruvian Trench. It happens that island arcs (Japanese islands) are formed together with trenches. This is how they were formed Mariana Islands and gutter.

The African lithospheric plate includes the African continent and is of an oceanic type. This is where the largest fault is located. Its length is 4000 km, and its width is 80-120. Its extremities are covered with numerous volcanoes, active and extinct.

The lithospheric plates of the world that have an oceanic type of crustal structure are often called oceanic. These include: Pacific, Coconut, Nazca. They occupy more than half the space of the World Ocean.

IN Indian Ocean there are three of them (Indo-Australian, African, Antarctic). The names of the plates correspond to the names of the continents that it washes. The lithospheric plates of the ocean are separated by underwater ridges.

Tectonics as a science

Plate tectonics studies their movement, as well as changes in the structure and composition of the Earth in a given area in a certain period of time. It assumes that it is not continents that drift, but lithospheric plates.

It is this movement that causes earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. It has been confirmed by satellites, but the nature of such movement and its mechanisms are still unknown.