Plate Tectonics: The movement of the plates that make up the surface of the Earth. The revolutionary paradigm in geology that the earths crust is composed of rigid segments (plates) in constant (although considered slow in a human-scale time frame) motion (tectonics) relative to each other.

 

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Plate Tectonics: The movement of the plates that make up the surface of the Earth. The revolutionary paradigm in geology that the earths crust is composed of rigid segments (plates) in constant (although con . . . View Full Definition

Tectonics: The study of the movements and deformation of the crust on a large scale, including epeirogeny, metamorphism, folding, faulting, and plate tectonics.

Plates: Early photographic glass plates coated with emulsion.

Quarterplate: Negative or print format measuring 3 ¼ x 4 ¼ inches. It's one quarter the size of a full plate (8 ½ x 6 ½ inches).

Schumann Plate: Plate coated with an emulsion with so little gelatin content that the silver halide grains protrude above its surface. Used for photography in the ultraviolet region.

Platelets: In vertebrates, cell fragments that bud off from the megakaryocytes in the bone marrow; carry chemicals needed for blood clotting. Cell fragment functioning in blood clotting.

Plateau Basalt: A sequence of parallel to subparallel basalt flows that were formed during a geologically brief interval of time and which covered an extensive geographic area. Thought to have formed from s . . . View Full Definition

Plate Camera: Camera designed to take glass plates but often adapted to take cut film.

Plate: Major section of the earth's crust, bounded by such features as mid-ocean ridges

Screen Plate: Plate used in early additive forms of color photography.