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  2. Fault (geology) - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fault_(geology)

    Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic forces, with the largest forming the boundaries between the plates, such as the megathrust faults of subduction zones or transform faults. [1] Energy release associated with rapid movement on active faults is the cause of most earthquakes.

  3. Plate tectonics - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_tectonics

    t. e. Plate tectonics (from Latin tectonicus, from Ancient Greek τεκτονικός (tektonikós) 'pertaining to building') [1] is the scientific theory that Earth 's lithosphere comprises a number of large tectonic plates, which have been slowly moving since 3–4 billion years ago. [2][3][4] The model builds on the concept of continental ...

  4. List of tectonic plates - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tectonic_plates

    Map showing Earth's principal tectonic plates and their boundaries in detail. These plates comprise the bulk of the continents and the Pacific Ocean.For purposes of this list, a major plate is any plate with an area greater than 20 million km 2 (7.7 million sq mi)

  5. Tectonic subsidence - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tectonic_subsidence

    Tectonic subsidence is the sinking of the Earth's crust on a large scale, relative to crustal-scale features or the geoid. [1] The movement of crustal plates and accommodation spaces produced by faulting [2] brought about subsidence on a large scale in a variety of environments, including passive margins, aulacogens, fore-arc basins, foreland basins, intercontinental basins and pull-apart basins.

  6. Tectonics - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tectonics

    Extensional tectonics is associated with the stretching and thinning of the crust or the lithosphere.This type of tectonics is found at divergent plate boundaries, in continental rifts, during and after a period of continental collision caused by the lateral spreading of the thickened crust formed, at releasing bends in strike-slip faults, in back-arc basins, and on the continental end of ...

  7. Outline of plate tectonics - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_plate_tectonics

    Sinistral transform. Plate tectonics (from Latin tectonicus, from Ancient Greek τεκτονικός (tektonikós) 'pertaining to building') is the scientific theory that Earth 's lithosphere comprises a number of large tectonic plates, which have been slowly moving since 3–4 billion years ago. The model builds on the concept of continental ...

  8. Continental collision - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_collision

    The continental crust on the downgoing plate is deeply subducted as part of the downgoing plate during collision, defined as buoyant crust entering a subduction zone. An unknown proportion of subducted continental crust returns to the surface as ultra-high pressure (UHP) metamorphic terranes, which contain metamorphic coesite and/or diamond plus or minus unusual silicon-rich garnets and/or ...

  9. Fault block - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fault_block

    Fault blocks are very large blocks of rock, sometimes hundreds of kilometres in extent, created by tectonic and localized stresses in Earth's crust. Large areas of bedrock are broken up into blocks by faults. Blocks are characterized by relatively uniform lithology. The largest of these fault blocks are called crustal blocks.