Plate tectonics (from the Late Latin tectonicus, from the Greek: τεκτονικός “pertaining to building”){{#invoke:Footnotes|sfn}} is a scientific theory that describes the large-scale motions of Earth’s lithosphere. The model builds on the concepts of continental drift, developed during the first decades of the 20th century. It was accepted by the geoscientific community after the concepts of seafloor spreading were developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
