But the plate of ice slowly drifted away, and no one moved.

First the continental plates drifted apart, with Africa and the Americas winding up in roughly the positions they occupy today.

Over time, as the continental plates drifted northward, the currents gradually changed, and by 20 mya the window for oceanic dispersal had closed.

The plate must have drifted too far from the disk.

These plates drift very slowly over the mantle below, which is lubricated by a soft layer called the asthenosphere.

Magma rises up, eventually cracking the crust and helping the plates drift apart.

The hot spot itself remains more or less stationary, but the crustal plate of the ocean floor has drifted eastward across it.

The plate and its mountain slowly drifted northwest, leaving a section behind, near Lancaster, 45 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

As the tectonic plates drifted together, they pushed up this formation while the mud layer was still hardening into flint.

As the tectonic plates drifted together, they raised up the mountain range to which Mount Fuzzy belongs.