PLATE TECTONICS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does plate tectonics mean? 

• PLATE TECTONICS (noun)
  The noun PLATE TECTONICS has 1 sense:

1. the branch of geology studying the folding and faulting of the earth's crust

  Familiarity information: PLATE TECTONICS used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PLATE TECTONICS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The branch of geology studying the folding and faulting of the earth's crust

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

plate tectonic theory; plate tectonics; tectonics

Hypernyms ("plate tectonics" is a kind of...):

geomorphology; morphology (the branch of geology that studies the characteristics and configuration and evolution of rocks and land forms)

Domain member category:

Pangaea; Pangea ((plate tectonics) a hypothetical continent including all the landmass of the earth prior to the Triassic period when it split into Laurasia and Gondwanaland)

 Context examples 

Titan's methane does not appear to result from convection or plate tectonics recycling its ice shell.

(Ocean on Saturn moon could be as salty as the Dead Sea, NASA)

Plate tectonics.

(Tectonic collision 50 million years ago led to widespread ocean changes, National Science Foundation)

The topic of the isotopic composition of seawater over geologic time has been much discussed, and this study has added critical data to this debate and to that of the emergence of plate tectonics as we know it today, said Enriqueta Barrera, a program director in NSF's Division of Earth Sciences.

(Scientists determine early Earth was a ‘water world’ by studying exposed ocean crust, National Science Foundation)