NDA (II) 2019 GAT Q130: Which one of the following is a major

Q: What is the answer to NDA (II) 2019 GAT Q130?

A. Correct — A, Pacific Plate. Earth's lithosphere is split into seven major (primary) plates — Pacific, North American, South American, Eurasian, African, Indo-Australian and Antarctic — plus numerous minor and micro plates. The Pacific Plate is the largest of them all, underlying most of the Pacific Ocean. The Cocos, Arabian and Philippine plates are all classified as minor plates, so only the Pacific belongs to the major group.

NDA (II) 2019 General Ability Test · Question 130 of 148

Question text verified against the official NDA question paper.

Which one of the following is a major plate?

(a)Pacific Plate
(b)Cocos Plate
(c)Arabian Plate
(d)Philippine Plate

Answer

Why

Correct — A, Pacific Plate. Earth's lithosphere is split into seven major (primary) plates — Pacific, North American, South American, Eurasian, African, Indo-Australian and Antarctic — plus numerous minor and micro plates. The Pacific Plate is the largest of them all, underlying most of the Pacific Ocean. The Cocos, Arabian and Philippine plates are all classified as minor plates, so only the Pacific belongs to the major group.

Why the others are wrong

(b)Cocos Plate — The Cocos Plate, off western Central America, is a small minor plate, not one of the seven majors.
(c)Arabian Plate — The Arabian Plate carrying the Arabian Peninsula is a minor plate; the Indo-Australian, not the Arabian, is the major plate of this region.
(d)Philippine Plate — The Philippine Sea Plate is a minor plate wedged between the larger Pacific and Eurasian plates.

Concept

The rigid lithosphere is broken into tectonic plates that move over the plastic asthenosphere. Geographers group them into seven major plates and a larger number of minor plates (Cocos, Nazca, Arabian, Philippine, Caribbean, Juan de Fuca, Scotia and others) based on size.

The distractors are all real plates, but the question tests size classification. Recall the seven majors first; anything not on that list — Cocos, Arabian, Philippine here — is a minor plate.

Key facts

The seven major plates are Pacific, North American, South American, Eurasian, African, Indo-Australian and Antarctic.
The Pacific Plate is the largest tectonic plate on Earth.
Cocos, Nazca, Arabian, Philippine and Caribbean are examples of minor plates.
Plates move over the asthenosphere, and their boundaries generate earthquakes and volcanoes.

Major plates vs minor plates

Pacific Plate (this question's answer)→A major plate — the largest on Earth

Other major plates→North American, South American, Eurasian, African, Indo-Australian, Antarctic

Cocos, Arabian, Philippine→All minor plates — the three distractors

Only the Pacific Plate is one of the seven major plates; the other options are minor plates.

Study next

The seven major and the minor lithospheric platesTypes of plate boundaries (divergent, convergent, transform)The Pacific Ring of Fire and its earthquakes and volcanoesContinental drift and sea-floor spreadingConvection currents in the mantle as the driving force

Common traps

Assuming any named plate is 'major' — Arabian, Cocos and Philippine are minor plates.
Confusing the Indo-Australian major plate with the smaller Arabian plate of the same region.

Direct 'which is a major/minor plate', or matching plates to boundaries and to the features (trenches, ridges) along them.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
How many major (primary) tectonic plates make up the Earth's lithosphere?
- (a)Five
- (b)Six
- (c)Seven
- (d)Nine
Answer(c) Seven — Pacific, North American, South American, Eurasian, African, Indo-Australian and Antarctic.
practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following is NOT a major tectonic plate?
- (a)African Plate
- (b)Nazca Plate
- (c)Eurasian Plate
- (d)Antarctic Plate
Answer(b) Nazca Plate — it is a minor plate off western South America.