Figure 12.7

Plates of the lithosphere. The 14 major lithospheric plates are shown here. Black triangles are used to show where one plate is moving toward another; the triangles point in the direction the plate is moving. For example, the Nazca plate is moving eastward toward the South American plate. Most lithospheric plates are composed of both continental and oceanic crust. At a transform boundary, plates move laterally past one another.