Tectonic plates are pieces of Earth's crust and upper mantle called the lithosphere and are about 100 km thick. There are two main types of plates: oceanic and continental, each composed of different materials. The formation and movement of these plates generates everything from the shape and orientation of continents to the mountains and trenches on Earth. The plates layer shows major and minor plates. Microplates are not included in this map. This version of the tectonic plates and boundaries was derived from Peter Bird in Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, 4(3), 1027, [doi:10.1029/2001GC000252]. The full publication can be read here. Processing of the 2014 version of the data into GIS formats was done by Hugo Ahlenius.

Tectonic plates are pieces of Earth's crust and upper mantle called the lithosphere and are about 100 km thick. There are two main types of plates: oceanic and continental, each composed of different materials. The formation and movement of these plates generates everything from the shape and orientation of continents to the mountains and trenches on Earth. The plates layer shows major and minor plates. Microplates are not included in this map. This version of the tectonic plates and boundaries was derived from Peter Bird in Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, 4(3), 1027, [doi:10.1029/2001GC000252]. The full publication can be read here. Processing of the 2014 version of the data into GIS formats was done by Hugo Ahlenius.