What is North American plate?
[[File:NorthAmericanPlate.png|thumb|250px|The North American plate]] The '''North American plate''' is a large [[Plate tectonics|tectonic plate]]. It covers most of [[North America]]. Also it includes [[Greenland]], [[Cuba]], [[the Bahamas]], extreme northeastern [[Asia]], and parts of [[Iceland]] and [[Azores|the Azores]]. Its area is {{convert|76,000,000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}. It is the Earth's second largest tectonic plate, behind the [[Pacific Plate]] (which borders the plate to the west). It extends east to the [[Mid-Atlantic Ridge]] and west to the [[Chersky Range]] in eastern [[Siberia]]. The plate includes both [[continental crust|continental]] and [[oceanic crust]]. The interior of the landmass is an extensive [[granite|granitic]] [[craton]]. Along most of the edges of this craton are fragments of crustal material called [[terrane]]s. They are stuck on ([[Accretion (geology)|accreted]]) to the craton over a long span of time. Much of North America west of the [[Rocky Mountains]] is composed of such terranes.<ref>Summerfield M.A. 1991. ''Global geomorphology''. Pearson. ISBN 9780582301566</ref> == References == {{reflist}} [[Category:Tectonic plates]] [[Category:Geography of North America]]