Major Lithospheric Plates
Major Lithospheric Plates
Major Lithospheric Plates
Department of Education
Region XIII
Division of Agusan del Sur
TRENTO NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
SCIENCE 10
Quarter 1
Week 1
Lesson Proper
According to the plate tectonic model, the entire Earth’s lithosphere is broken into numerous segments
called plates. The Plate Tectonic Theory is a theory stating that the Earth’s layer is fragmented into either
a small or a large plate. But what are plates? Plates are those rigid sections of the lithosphere that move as
a unit.
The lithosphere, the rigid outermost shell of the earth is broken into tectonic plates. Tectonic plates are
pieces of the Earth’s crust and the upper mantle called the lithosphere. These plates are of two principal
types of material: continental crust (also called sial from silicon and aluminum) and the thinner oceanic
crust formerly known as sima (from silicon and magnesium). The composition of the two types of crust
differs from one another because oceanic crust is mostly made up of basaltic rocks while continental crust
is consisting primarily of granitic rocks. These plates also vary in sizes and are around 100 km (62mi).
Tectonic plates are composed of the oceanic lithosphere and the continental lithosphere. You have learned
in the previous lesson about the characteristics of both the continental and oceanic lithosphere. In this
lesson, we will be focusing on the different plates that make up the earth. Plates can be classified as
primary, secondary, or tertiary depending on how big or small they are.
Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Region XIII
Division of Agusan del Sur
TRENTO NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
As shown in Figure 1, plates vary according to their sizes. Some of these plates are relatively large while
some of them are small. These plates are solid rocks that are continuously moving in the crust of the
earth. These plates are also relative with one another on the outer surface of the earth including the ocean
floor.
Tectonic plates are sometimes subdivided into three categories: major or primary plates, minor or
secondary plates, and microplates or tertiary plates. What are the major plates? Major plates are those
types of plates that comprise the bulk of the continents and the Pacific Ocean. They are considered to be
major because they are the plates with an area greater than 20 million km2.
The world is composed of major, minor, and micro tectonic plates. How many tectonic plates are there?
There are handfuls of major plates and dozens of smaller or minor plates. Tectonic plates are defined as
major or minor plates depending on their size.
Geologists generally agree that the following plates currently exist on the earth’s surface. There are
smaller plates which are often shown on the map. These smaller plates are called the minor plates or
secondary plates. They are the plates with an area of less than 20 million square kilometers but not greater
than 1 million square kilometers.
Microplates or tertiary plates are small, mostly rigid areas of the lithosphere, located at major plate
boundaries but rotating as more or less independent plates.
As shown on the map of plate tectonics, there are seven relatively large plates and a number of smaller
ones, including the Philippine plate. These plates move slowly but in constant motion, and this movement
is called tectonics; thus, the theory of moving lithospheric plates is called plate tectonics.
Tectonic plates are able to move because the earth’s lithosphere has greater mechanical strength than the
underlying asthenosphere. Each plate is slowly moving to each other, causing geologic events to happen
along their boundaries. The places on Earth where most of the earthquakes originated or some mountains
and volcanoes were formed mark the boundaries of each lithospheric plates. Thus, scientists determine
the scientific basis in dividing lithospheric plates such as the occurrence of an earthquake (seismicity),
volcanic eruptions (volcanism), and mountain formation.