This is an easy one. The earth's crust is broken into sections, called plates. There are two (2) basic types: oceanic plates which are composed of basalt, and continental plates, which are mostly granite. The continental plates are in motio...
http://jersey.uoregon.edu/%7Emstrick/AskGeoMan/geoQuerr...
Continental margin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The continental margin is the zone of the ocean floor that separates the thin oceanic crust from thick continental crust. Continental margins constitute about 28% of the oceanic area. The transition...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_margin
Passive margin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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A passive margin is the transition between oceanic and continental crust which is not an active plate margin. It is constructed by sedimentation above an ancient rift, now marked by transitional cru...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_margin
Continental shelf - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent and associated coastal plain, and was part of the continent during the glacial periods, but is undersea during interglacial periods ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_shelf
Investigations of the geomorphic history of passive margins commonly focuses on large-scale escarpments as these outstanding features dominate many margins, both young and old (>60 Ma), and ideas about how they form are central to the margin debate.
gsa.confex.com/gsa/2001ESP/finalprogram/abstract_6522.h... gsa.confex.com/gsa/2001ESP/finalprogram/abstract_6522.htm
This article has been cited by other articles: ... Estacion Volcanologica de Canarias, Tenerife, Spain; ... This record provided courtesy of AGI/GeoRef.
geolmag.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/135/5/... geolmag.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/135/5/591
Episodic magmatism and diverse plutonic products within the Thverartindur central volcanic complex at the former Icelandic plate margin; Journal of the Geological Society, October 1, 1998; 155(5): 801 - 811. [Abstract] [PDF];
geolmag.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/129/4/... geolmag.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/129/4/437
Early Triassic-Cretaceous rifting and magmatism occurred along the western edge of the Arabian Peninsula from Egypt in the south to Syria in the north, associated with the development of the Neotethyan passive continental margin which is preserved in the present-day Eastern Mediterranean.
jgs.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/154/3/459 jgs.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/154/3/459
Passive margins form just over half of the present-day continental margin system and, although like the world's oceans all are relatively young (Mesozoic-Tertiary), former passive margins of Palaeozoic and Precambrian age are preserved in orogenic belts and plate interiors.
jgs.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/149/5/803 jgs.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/149/5/803
As in other parts of the North American Cordillera, continental separation in the southern Great Basin appears to have taken place between 590 and 545 Ma. These results are not sensitive to uncertainties in stratigraphic thickness, biostratigraphic age control, or paleobathymetry. ... An active Neoproterozoic margin:
bulletin.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/103/1... bulletin.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/103/12/1590