South_American_plates.png

Summary

Description South American plates.png	The key principle of plate tectonics is that the lithosphere exists as separate and distinct tectonic plates, which float on the fluid-like (visco-elastic solid) asthenosphere. The relative fluidity of the asthenosphere allows the tectonic plates to undergo motion in different directions. This map shows 15 of the largest plates. Note that the Indo-Australian Plate may be breaking apart into the Indian and Australian plates, which are shown separately on this map.
Date	February 1996
Source	http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/slabs.html
Author	USGS; cropped by Beyond My Ken ( talk ) 10:06, 27 February 2010 (UTC)
Other versions	Arabic Chinese English Spanish English

This image is in the public domain in the United States because it only contains materials that originally came from the United States Geological Survey , an agency of the United States Department of the Interior . For more information, see the official USGS copyright policy .

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February 1996

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