Page 86 - DK Children's Encyclopedia

Earth’s surface SEE ALSO

▸ ▸ Earthquakes p.85
▸ ▸ Inside Earth
The outer layer of the Earth is called the crust. It is p.135
made up of many pieces, called tectonic plates, which fit ▸ ▸ Mountains p.172
together like a giant, ball-shaped jigsaw. Tectonic plates ▸ ▸ Oceans and seas

move very slowly, just a few centimeters each year. p.187
▸ ▸ Volcanoes p.268

▸ ▸ World p.275

Many volcanoes
are found on the
Ring of Fire.

Earthquakes are very
common along the San
Andreas Fault, a part of the
Ring of Fire in California.

Pacific Ocean
Tectonic plates
meet at plate
boundaries.
Earth’s tectonic plates
Earth’s surface has seven giant
tectonic plates and several smaller KEY
ones. The largest plate is below the Plate boundary
Pacific Ocean. It covers more than Ring of Fire
one-fifth of the Earth.
Volcano

Ring of Fire
Volcanic eruptions Mountains
and earthquakes The Himalayas are a mountain
are common at the range in Asia at the boundary
between two tectonic plates.
plate boundaries The range formed over millions
around the Pacific of years as the plates pushed
Ocean. This is known into each other, forcing the
ground up. The mountains
as the Ring of Fire. are still rising by about /5 in
1
(5 mm) every year.

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