Plate-tectonics Synonyms

In geology, a theory that the Earth's lithosphere (the crust and upper mantle) is divided into a number of large, platelike sections that move as distinct masses. The movement of the plates is believed to result from the presence of large convection cells in the Earth's mantle which allow the rigid plates to move over the relatively plastic asthenosphere. The theory of plate tectonics was developed in the 1960s in an effort to explain the jigsawlike pattern of the Earth's continents.
Synonyms:
  1. continental-drift
The branch of geology studying the folding and faulting of the earth's crust
(Noun)
Synonyms:
  1. tectonics
  2. plate tectonic theory

Words near Plate-tectonics in the Thesaurus