How to Use plate tectonics in a Sentence

plate tectonics

noun

• Mars lacks plate tectonics, the sliding of pieces of the crust that shapes the surface of our planet.
  — Kenneth Chang, New York Times, 17 May 2022
• The mantle contributes to the evolution of the crust and plays a role in plate tectonics.
  — Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 June 2023
• This might be a clue as to why the Red Planet doesn’t have the plate tectonics that drive the frenzy of volcanism on Earth.
  — Matt Simon, Wired, 22 July 2021
• Her keen eye also spotted the first hints of plate tectonics at work beneath the waves.
  — Mark Barna, Discover Magazine, 16 Dec. 2022
• Then, over time, plate tectonics lifted Panama up out of the ocean.
  — National Geographic, 23 June 2020
• In my very first week, a lecturer who happened to be a giant in the field of plate tectonics talked to us about the evolution of the Alps.
  — Steve Nadis, Quanta Magazine, 7 June 2023
• If Mars had plate tectonics, those also stopped long ago.
  — Marissa Grunes, Discover Magazine, 6 Apr. 2023
• The answer has a lot to do with plate tectonics and how buildings are constructed.
  — Allison Chinchar, CNN, 1 May 2021
• But there’s more to plate tectonics than earthquakes and eruptions.
  — Quanta Magazine, 7 June 2018
• Such a thick lithosphere, Khan says, could be why Mars lacks plate tectonics today.
  — Jonathan O'Callaghan, Scientific American, 22 July 2021
• Smrekar suspects Venus is a good analog for the time when plate tectonics began on Earth.
  — Paul Voosen, Science | AAAS, 2 June 2021
• The rift is probably a sign of things to come as the plate tectonics under Africa rearrange themselves.
  — Laura Geggel, Washington Post, 7 Apr. 2018
• Most rocks on Earth are much younger than four billion years because of the constant recycling of the crust by plate tectonics—a process that does not occur on the moon.
  — Erica Jawin, Scientific American, 2 July 2019
• The Earth has plate tectonics, which gradually shift and distort the surface, as well as winds and oceans that erode the evidence of past events.
  — Jason Thomson, The Christian Science Monitor, 13 July 2021
• The lesions can change shape and location, a little like an oral version of plate tectonics.
  — Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Apr. 2022
• As for why Earth has plate tectonics, and our planetary neighbors don’t?
  — Bruce Dorminey, Forbes, 24 Sep. 2021
• The Rift Valley is subject to ongoing plate tectonics and crustal movement that can affect the lakes.
  — Sean Avery, Quartz Africa, 16 Oct. 2020
• The melt layer doesn’t have any influence on plate tectonics.
  — Tim Newcomb, Popular Mechanics, 8 Feb. 2023
• In addition, the researchers noted that plate tectonics likely did not play a major role in the rise of these cratons.
  — ABC News, 14 Nov. 2021
• At the site, shifting plate tectonics in the ocean crust fueled by heat from the mantle cause earthquakes and lead to the formation of mountains and volcanoes.
  — Camille Fine, USA TODAY, 6 June 2023
• Scientists suspect that, at one point, the surface of Venus looked a lot like Earth, with plate tectonics and shallow water oceans.
  — Jennifer Leman, Popular Mechanics, 5 Jan. 2020
• As these islands were moved about by plate tectonics, the sharks were carried to a new territory far from their fellows.
  — Kate Baggaley, Popular Science, 24 Jan. 2020
• Above that, there was likely a global ocean since plate tectonics wasn't building mountains yet.
  — John Timmer, Ars Technica, 11 Aug. 2022
• Scientists know the moon is too cold and still to have plate tectonics, like Earth, which keeps our whole crust sliding around in giant, continent-sized pieces.
  — Korey Haynes, Discover Magazine, 13 May 2019
• That means the forces from plate tectonics seem to account for the height of the mountains, without any additional influences.
  — Scott K. Johnson, Ars Technica, 13 June 2020
• But Pangea and the related concepts of plate tectonics explain how a seafloor near Brazil ended up as a clifftop in Newfoundland.
  — Neil Ever Osborne, Smithsonian, 30 Sep. 2017
• Without plate tectonics, carbon won’t be pulled out of the atmosphere.
  — Paul M. Sutter, Discover Magazine, 16 Feb. 2023
• The team’s analysis of tungsten isotopes in the rocks reveals Earth in the act of transitioning to plate tectonics around 3.2 billion years ago.
  — Quanta Magazine, 25 Mar. 2021
• The only reason the Earth doesn’t have the same amount of visible damage as, say, the Moon is that our planet constantly reshapes its surface through erosion and plate tectonics.
  — Paul Sutter, Ars Technica, 10 May 2024
• Scientists have considered volcanic eruptions, varying levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, Earth’s tilt and volatile plate tectonics.
  — Christian Thorsberg, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 June 2024

Last Updated: 5 Sep 2024