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List of tectonic plates
This is a
list of tectonic plates
on Earth.
Tectonic plates
are pieces of Earth's
crust
and uppermost
mantle
, together referred to as the
lithosphere
. The plates are around thick and consist of two principal types of material:
oceanic crust
(also called
sima
from
silicon
and
magnesium
) and
continental crust
(
sial
from silicon and
aluminium
). The composition of the two types of crust differs markedly, with
basaltic
rocks ("
mafic
") dominating oceanic crust, while continental crust consists principally of lower
density
granitic
rocks ("
felsic
"). See also
Plate tectonics
.
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