Talk:Plate tectonics

You shouldn't have reverted my post

You say: ‘Sorry--talk pages are only for discussions about the state of and improvements to the article, not for general chat about the article's topic.’

I was specifically talking about a potential problem with the plate map / diagram. Even if you disagree with my opinion, I was starting a discussion about the state of the article and not generally chatting about the topic of the article, so you shouldn't have reverted it.

Please put it back. If you disagree with what I said about the topic, please provide arguments rather than just delete an opinion on improving the article that you happen to disagree with. ~2026-32679-12 (talk) 23:20, 5 June 2026 (UTC)

I'm sorry if there's been a misunderstanding, but you wrote Looking at maps of cratons, ... as though you were referring to multiple maps, that were maps of cratons, that you'd have to have been looking at elsewhere because there are no maps of cratons in this article. A form of the word "craton" appears once in the article, Continental lithosphere is typically about 200 km (120 mi) thick, though this varies considerably between basins, mountain ranges, and stable cratonic interiors of continents, not in a description of any of the maps in the article. Most of the rest of what you wrote seemed like general mulling about how those maps would have looked in the past, followed by the very general question Who knows what will happen in the future? and, finally, Similar issues might exist elsewhere on the map as well with no indication what map you were talking about, so it still didn't look like you were talking about any of the content in this article. Largoplazo (talk) 23:28, 5 June 2026 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 15 June 2026

Under "The role of water" add a citation. Currently: "The role of water has been proposed to be crucial in plate tectonics on Earth.[46][47][48]". Change to "The role of water has been proposed to be crucial in plate tectonics on Earth.[46][47][48][49]"

Where [49] is: James A. Conder; Oceanic isostasy as a trigger for the rift-to-drift transition. Geology 2022;; 50 (7): 843–847. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G49914.1 Northboundzax (talk) 21:02, 15 June 2026 (UTC)

 Not done: as you haven't given a reason for this citation to be added, when there are already three sources cited. Day Creature (talk) 23:05, 15 June 2026 (UTC)

Hello Day Creature.

The new one that I included is an entirely different mechanism than the others of how water is crucial in plate tectonics, not a reiteration of the others. If the number of citations is a concern, [48] should be eliminated as it is a citation casting doubt on the mechanism of fault lubrication having a role rather than supporting water having a role. [46] could also be re-evaluated in that it is a one paragraph conference abstract and not a peer reviewed paper (the new one I added is a peer reviewed paper from a top Earth Science journal). Northboundzax (talk) 15:29, 16 June 2026 (UTC)

Still  Not done. As DC mentioned, there are already 3 cites for a fairly general statement; we don't really need a fourth. See WP:OVERCITE for some general thoughts on the matter. –Deacon Vorbis (carbon • videos) 16:30, 23 June 2026 (UTC)

So get rid of the one that doesn't even apply [48]. Wouldn't that be an improvement? Northboundzax (talk) 16:37, 23 June 2026 (UTC)