where are the tectonic plates located?
102753
Under the continents.  The term refers to the basaultic shields on which the continents "float" on the magma underneath.  When they shift and grind against one another, we have volcanoes and earthquakes.
138727
The continental plates float on the LITHOSPHERE because the continents, including the mountain ranges, are composed of LIGHTER materials than the partial BASALT of which the seafloors are composed and of which the lithosphere is composed.  Even GRANITE weighs less.\n\nThe lithosphere is very hot in comparison to the crust of the earth.  The materials there are 'plastic' and flowing.  this enables crustal adjustments to granitational, earthquake and other stresses.\n\nIt is all somewhat similar to bread floating on the top of pea soup (representing the molten sea of cushiony basalt).  If you put two large pieces there (continents), ones that fill nearly the whole surface, and if you push one down, the other will rise.\n\nWith erosion onto the sea floor continental masses also become lighter.  This can make land masses rise.  The pressure of the ocean waters also keeps the continents up.\n\nThe heavier ocean floor plates dive under the continental plates where these two thrust into one another.  There are such areas around the Pacific rim.  Deep marine trenches are associated with these.\n\nLook on the internet for tectonic plates, deep marine trenches, basalt (also from Hawaiian volcanoes) and you will find lots of info.
711473
other animals ....of course.\n\nDo you know about plate tectonics?
365341
The youngest rocks will be found next to Divergent Tectonic Plate Boundries, such as the Mid Atlanitc Ridge, where upwelling mgama is pushing two plates apart.  The oldest rock will be found in subduction zones where one plate is pushed under another and back towards the mantle.
890910
Mt St Helens is in the Cascade mountains in Washington state. It is on the NORTH AMERICAN PLATE, near it's intersection with the Pacific Plate and Juan de Fuca Plate.\n\nSee this pic for details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Cascade_Range-related_plate_tectonics.png
842265
Pangaea is the name of the original super-continent.\n\nPlate tectonics describes how the continents move.\n\nRead here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_tectonics
850026
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Glossary/PlateTectonics/Maps/map_plate_tectonics_world.html
643922
No doubt, it's a fact. Besides all evidence already discussed by other answerers (earthquakes, fossil record, continent shapes, geological models), today there are *direct measurements* of the changing distance between tectonic plates, using laser or radio interferometry (see reference).
855026
Most earthquakes happen along the edge of the oceanic and continental plates. [Oceanic plates are under water, continental plates are above.] The earth's crust (the outer layer of the planet) is made up of a bunch of pieces, called plates. The plates get moved around by the liquid layers of magma underneath the Earth's crust. The plates are always bumping into each other, and pulling away from each other or past eachother. Earthquakes usually happen when two plates are running into each other or sliding past each other. They can also happen along faults, too though.
537912
The crust but more specifically the lithospheric plates.\n\nThe lithosphere is divided into 7 major plates and about 7 minor ones. The major ones contain the continents.\n\nThese plates move in response to the convection of molten material in the mantle. As the molten rock circulates, it pulls lithospheric plates along like they were on a conveyor belt.\n\nThe crust floats atop the molten rock below b/c it is less dense.
146412
Do you mean the "Andes Mountains"? My guess is that they arose from plate tectonics. The Nazca Plate and the South American Plate meet at the location of the Andes range. However, some are volcanic as well.
603115
volcanos\ntectonic plates movements
725708
In google search for :\n\nUSGS plate tectonics Maps\n\nOne good answer is:\n\nhttp://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Glossary/PlateTectonics/Graphics/framework2.html
273993
The Caribbean Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that encompasses roughly 3.2x106 km² and underlies Central America and the Caribbean Sea off the north coast of South America. The Caribbean Plate borders the North American Plate, the South American Plate, and the Cocos Plate. These borders are hotspots for seismic activity, including frequent earthquakes and tremors, occasional tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions.\n\nThe northern boundary with the North American plate is a transform or strike-slip boundary which runs from the border area of Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras in Central America, eastward through the Cayman trough on south of the southeast coast of Cuba, and just north of Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Part of the Puerto Rico Trench, the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean (roughly 8400 meters), lies along this border. The Puerto Rico trench is at a complex transition from the subduction boundary to the south and the transform boundary to the west.\n\nThe eastern boundary is a subduction zone formed as the westward moving North American Plate plunges under the Caribbean Plate. Subduction forms the volcanic islands of the Lesser Antilles island arc from the Virgin Islands in the north to the islands off the coast of Venezuela in the south. This boundary contains seventeen active volcanoes, most notably Soufriere Hills on Montserrat, Mount Pelée on Martinique, La Grande Soufrière on Guadeloupe, Soufrière Saint Vincent on Saint Vincent, and the submarine volcano Kick-'em-Jenny which lies about 10 km north of Grenada.\n\nFor More:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribbean_Plate
85175
There's no such thing as a volcanic plate.\n\nTechtonic plates "float" on the earth's mantle, and most of the earths volcanism occurs where those plates meet.  The motion of these plates is mostly driven by convection currents in the mantle and is beyond the scope of this post.
195850
Was it really necessary to post this question here? You couldn't look it up using a web search tool?\n\nWikipedia lists the current major plates:\n\nAfrican Plate\nAntarctic Plate\nArabian Plate\nAustralian Plate\nCocos Plate\nEurasian Plate\nIndo-Australian Plate\nIndian Plate\nNazca Plate\nNorth American Plate\nPacific Plate\nPhilippine Plate\nScotia Plate\nSouth American Plate\n\nand also gives a map. You can look and decide what plates are major enough to be on your list of 7.
1148782
What Is It?\nScientists have learned that the Earth's crust is fractured into a series of "plates" that have been moving very slowly over the Earth's surface for millions of years. Two of these moving plates meet in western California; the boundary between them is the San Andreas fault. The Pacific Plate (on the west) moves northwestward relative to the North American Plate (on the east), causing earthquakes along the fault. The San Andreas is the "master" fault of an intricate fault network that cuts through rocks of the California coastal region. The entire San Andreas fault system is more than 800 miles long and extends to depths of at least 10 miles within the Earth. In detail, the fault is a complex zone of crushed and broken rock from a few hundred feet to a mile wide. Many smaller faults branch from and join the San Andreas fault zone. Almost any road cut in the zone shows a myriad of small fractures, fault gouge (pulverized rock), and a few solid pieces of rock.