Plate tectonics is a theory of geology developed to explain the phenomenon of continental drift and is currently the theory accepted by the vast majority of scientists working in this area.

In the theory of plate tectonics the outermost part of the Earth's interior is made up of two layers: the outer lithosphere and the inner asthenosphere.

The lithosphere essentially "floats" on the asthenosphere and is broken-up into ten major plates: African, Antarctic, Australian, Eurasian, North American, South American, Pacific, Cocos, Nazca, and the Indian plates.

For more information about the topic Plate tectonics, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:

Lithosphere — The lithosphere is the solid outermost shell of a rocky planet. On the Earth, the lithosphere includes the crust and the uppermost layer of the ...  > read more

Mid-ocean ridge — A mid-ocean ridge or mid-oceanic ridge is an underwater mountain range, formed by plate tectonics. This uplifting of the ocean floor occurs when ...  > read more

Crust (geology) — In geology, a crust is the outermost layer of a planet. The crust of the Earth is composed of a great variety of igneous, metamorphic, and ...  > read more

Oceanic trench — The oceanic trenches are hemispheric-scale long but narrow topographic depressions of the sea floor. They also are the deepest parts of the ocean ...  > read more

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