WHAT IS A PLATE?

The surface of the Earth is broken up into large plates. Its easy to confuse these
plates with the Earths crust the thin outermost layer of the Earth. But there is
more to the structure of the Earth than this simple image of a cracked egg-shell.
The Earths layers can be defined in two different ways based on the chemical
composition or the mechanical properties of the rock. To understand what plates
are, it is important to understand both of these different models.
When we talk about tectonic or lithospheric plates, we mean the sections into which
the lithosphere is cracked. The surface of the Earth is divided into 7 major and 8
minor plates. The largest plates are the Antarctic, Eurasian, and North American
plates. Plates are on average 125km thick, reaching maximum thickness below
mountain ranges. Oceanic plates (50-100km) are thinner than the continental plates
(up to 200km) and even thinner at the ocean ridges where the temperatures are
higher. Some plates are large enough to consist of both continental and oceanic
crustal portions (e.g. the African or South American plates) whilst the Pacific Plate is
almost entirely oceanic.
The Earth is roughly spherical, so these plates are fractured into curved sections
which are in constant motion relative to each other and meet in various ways along
their edges these are the plate boundaries, where most volcanoes and
earthquakes occur. The mechanism by which plates move is still a highly
controversial subject amongst Earth scientists.

A mountain range (also mountain barrier/belt/chain/system) is a geographic area

containing numerous geologically related mountains. A mountain system or system
of mountain ranges, sometimes is used to combine several geological features that
are geographically (regionally) related.
Mountain ranges are usually segmented by highlands or mountain
passes and valleys. Individual mountains within the same mountain range do not
necessarily have the same geologic structure or petrology. They may be a mix of
different orogenic expressions and terranes, for example thrust sheets, uplifted
blocks, fold mountains, and volcanic landforms resulting in a variety of rock types.

In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock, across

which there has been significant displacement along the fractures as a result of rock
mass movement. Large faults within the Earth's crust result from the action of plate
tectonic forces, with the largest forming the boundaries between the plates, such
as subduction zones or transform faults. Energy release associated with rapid
movement onactive faults is the cause of most earthquakes.
A fault trace or fault line is the intersection of a fault with the ground surface; also,
the line commonly plotted on geologic maps to represent a fault. [1][2]

Since faults do not usually consist of a single, clean fracture, geologists use the
term fault zone when referring to the zone of complex deformation associated with
the fault plane.