Major Lithospheric Plates

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Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Region XIII
Division of Agusan del Sur
TRENTO NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

SCIENCE 10
Quarter 1
Week 1

Lesson: Major Lithospheric Plates


Objectives:
1. identify the major lithospheric plates;
2. determine the scientific basis for dividing the lithospheric plates; and
3. inculcate in the minds the importance of knowing the culture, climatic patterns and location of
the countries which are mostly infected, and those which are less affected by Corona Virus.

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

Figure 1. Map of Plate Boundaries

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.

MAJOR LITHOSPHERIC OR TECTONIC PLATES


Pacific Plate- This is the largest tectonic plate
covering more than 103 million square kilometers
area and is underneath the Pacific Ocean.

African Plate- This plate covers 61, 300, 000 km2


of the African continent, some parts of the
Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Region XIII
Division of Agusan del Sur
TRENTO NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Eurasian Plate- This plate is covering most of the
area in Europe and Russia of about 67, 800, 000
km2.

South American Plate- This plate covers some


regions of the Atlantic Ocean and the entire South
American continent of about 43, 600, 000 km2.

Indo-Australian Plate- This contains a huge part


of the Australian continent, Indian subcontinent,
and the surrounding ocean of the Australian
continents of about 58, 900, 000 km2.
North American Plate- This plate extends 75, 900,
000 km2 from the North Pole to Siberia. This
plate covers North America, some portions of the
Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic Ocean, Greenland
and the Bering Sea.
Antarctic Plate- This covers the continents in
Antarctica and the Southern Ocean of about 60,
900, 000 km2.

Table 1. Major Lithospheric Plates

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.

Here are some of the minor plates of the world:


Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Region XIII
Division of Agusan del Sur
TRENTO NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
MINOR TECTONIC PLATES
The Philippine Sea Plate or the Philippine Plate is
a
5, 500, 000 km 2 tectonic plate comprising of
oceanic lithosphere that lies beneath the
Philippine
Sea, in the eastern part of the Philippines.
The Nazca Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate
located
in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean.

The Caribbean Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate


underlying in Central America and the Caribbean
Sea. It measures about 15. 600, 000 km2.

The Arabian Plate is a 5, 000, 000 km2 tectonic


plate
in the eastern and northern hemisphere and one of
the continental plates that have been moving
northward in recent geological history colliding
with
the Eurasian Plate.
The Scotia Plate is a 1, 600, 000 km2 tectonic
plate
on the edge of the South Atlantic and the Southern
Ocean.

The Cocos Plate is a 2, 900, 000 km2 young


oceanic
plate beneath the Pacific Ocean.
Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Region XIII
Division of Agusan del Sur
TRENTO NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
The Juan de Fuca Plate is a 250, 000 km2 tectonic
plate generated from the Juan de Fuca Ridge that
is
subducting under the northerly portion of the
western side of the North American Plate.

Table 2. Minor Lithospheric Plates

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.

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