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Words related to continent
con·ti·nent
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antarctica
a continent around the South Pole: consists of an ice-covered plateau, 1800–3000 m (6000 ft to 10 000 ft) above sea level, and mountain ranges rising to 4500 m (15 000 ft) with some volcanic peaks; average temperatures all below freezing and human settlement is confined to research stations. All political claims to the mainland are suspended under the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 -
epeirogeny
(geomorphology) broad regional upwarp of the cratonic portions of continents. -
protocontinent
an actual or hypothetical landmass that might later be enlarged into a major continent or broken up into smaller ones. -
south american plate
a major tectonic division of the earth's crust, comprising the continent of South America and several ocean basins and bounded on the north by the Caribbean Plate, on the east by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, on the west by a submarine trench that borders the western coast of the continent, and on the south by the Antarctic Plate. -
africa
the second largest of the continents, on the Mediterranean in the north, the Atlantic in the west, and the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Indian Ocean in the east. The Sahara desert divides the continent unequally into North Africa (an early centre of civilization, in close contact with Europe and W Asia, now inhabited chiefly by Arabs) and Africa south of the Sahara (relatively isolated from the rest of the world until the 19th century and inhabited chiefly by Negroid peoples). It was colonized mainly in the 18th and 19th centuries by Europeans and now comprises independent nations. The largest lake is Lake Victoria and the chief rivers are the Nile, Niger, Congo, and Zambezi. Pop: 1 100 000 000 (2013 est). Area: about 30 300 000 sq km (11 700 000 sq miles) -
african plate
a major tectonic division of the earth's crust, comprising the African continent as well as adjacent ocean basins (the Canary, Cape Verde, Angola, Cape Agulhas, Somali, Madagascar, and Natal Basins), and bounded on the north by the Eurasian and Arabian Plates, on the east by mid-ocean ridges (the Southwest Indian, Mid-Indian, and Carlsberg Ridges), on the south by the Antarctic Plate, and on the west by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.