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Glite Dictionary
🧪 A lab plate 🌎 A small tectonic plate
microplate

microplate

8.8
A small part of the Earth's outer layer that moves on its own
  • noun
  • /ˈmaɪkroʊˌpleɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : microplaca
  • One of these zones marks the Mediterranean-Alpine region between the Eurasian and African Plates, within which several smaller fragments of plates (microplates) have been recognized.

Examples

  • The region of the Abiz fault is comprised of several microplates and is tectonically very active.

  • Because plate-boundary zones involve at least two large plates and one or more microplates caught up between them, they tend to have complicated geological structures and earthquake patterns.

  • Italy is in an unusual tectonic setting, with the west of the country lying on the Eurasian Plate, but the east of the country lying on the Adriatic Plate, a microplate that broke away from North Africa some time in the past and is now wedged into the southern margin of Europe, underlying eastern Italy, the Adriatic Sea, and the west of the Balkan Peninsula.

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Synonyms

subplate
vsmicroplate
  • Specialized
8.1

A small part of Earth's crust under a larger plate that can cause local earthquakes

moves independently instead of being part of a larger plate

How Big

microplate
  • Specialized
8.8
subplate
  • Specialized
8.1

Surface Forms

microplate singular
microplates plural

Morphology

microplate = plate (semi-transparent) = micro + plate

The geological term is compositionally clear, but it is a technical sense of plate rather than an everyday transparent phrase.

Etymology

The word microplate joins micro-, from a Greek word meaning 'small' and seen in microscope, and plate, meaning 'piece of Earth's surface'. So it means a 'small plate' of the Earth's surface that moves separately from bigger plates.