African Plate
African Plate One of the present-day major lithospheric plates, consisting of the continental mass of Africa surrounded, except to the north, by oceanic crust and oceanic ridges. To the north, a complex picture of collision and subduction zones and transform faults has been postulated for the boundary with the Eurasian Plate and various minor plates, e.g. the Aegean Plate. The northern part of the African Plate also contains remnants of the oceanic crust of Tethys. To the north-east the Red Sea is interpreted as an actively forming ocean, at the young stage of the Wilson cycle, while the E.African rifts, partially defining what is called by some the ‘Somali Plate’ to the east, may be at the embryonic stage of ocean development, or possibly a stillborn ocean.
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Antarctic Ocean , Antarctic Ocean Wilson Cycle , Wilson cycle The hypothesis, named after Tuzo Wilson who proposed it, that an ocean basin has a lifespan with several stages: from opening, through d… Paleotethys , Palaeotethys There is confusion over the relationship between Tethys (or Neotethys) and Palaeotethys. Some authors refer to the existence of a late P… Ocean , Oceans are large bodies of salt water that surround Earth's continents and occupy the basins between them. The four major oceans of the world are the… Panthalassa , Panthalassa The name given to the vast oceanic area that surrounded Pangaea when that supercontinent was in existence. Tethys was a minor arm of this… Subduction Zone , Subduction zones occur at collision boundaries where at least one of the colliding lithospheric plates contains oceanic crust . In accord with plate…
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African Plate