What is the size and composition of the North American plate?

The North American plate covers an area of 76 million square kilometers, making it the Earth's second largest tectonic plate. It includes both continental and oceanic crust, featuring an extensive granitic core called a craton surrounded by accreted terranes. Tectonic plates generally consist of the crust and uppermost mantle, containing both lower-density felsic granitic rocks and mafic basaltic rocks.

What we know

• The North American plate covers an area of 76 million square kilometers (29 million square miles). [2]
• It is the Earth's second largest tectonic plate, positioned behind the Pacific plate. [2]
• The plate contains both continental and oceanic crust, with an interior main continental landmass featuring an extensive granitic core known as a craton. [2]
• Tectonic plates are composed of Earth's crust and uppermost mantle, which together make up the lithosphere. [4]

Where to go next

• a case in pointWhat geographic regions are on the North American plate?
• how it workedHow do tectonic plates form the lithosphere?
• compared withHow does the South American plate compare in size?
• the bigger pictureWhat is the Pacific plate?
• what caused itWhat causes the Mid-Atlantic Ridge?
• an unexpected connectionHow does photography intersect with geological scale?While tectonic plates span millions of square kilometers of the Earth's crust, historical photography utilized massive glass negatives also known as mammoth plates to capture the American West.

Sources

• [1]North American Plate (Wikidata Q220305) · CC0 1.0
• [2]North American plate · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Mammoth plate · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]List of tectonic plates · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]South American plate · CC BY-SA 4.0