The Dynamic Earth, Plate Tectonics
The Dynamic Earth wall map illustrates plate tectonics and features new bathymetry and naturally colored relief, as well as volcano and earthquake data through 2011.
Like pieces of a giant jigsaw puzzle, tectonic plates fit together to form the earth's outer shell. The interaction of these plates causes earthquakes and volcanoes and shapes the earth's crust into mountains, valleys and deep-sea trenches. The Dynamic Earth map illustrates 17 major tectonic plates and highlights diffuse plate boundaries, convergent boundaries, spreading boundaries, fault zones, hot spots, notable earthquakes and volcanic eruptions of the 20th and 21st centuries, earthquakes with a magnitude of greater than 6.5 during the 20th and early 21st centuries, and notable volcanic eruptions during the past 10,000 years.