Plate tectonics is a former featured article. Please see the links under Article milestones below for its original nomination page (for older articles, check the nomination archive) and why it was removed.
	This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on August 12, 2004.
Article milestones Date Process Result July 11, 2004 Featured article candidate Promoted February 12, 2008 Featured article review Demoted June 11, 2008 Good article nominee Not listed
Current status: Former featured article

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Lot's of history here. And that is a serious problem. It is possible, although not most likely, that a reader has come to this article to find out what "experts" were thinking in 1900 or 1960. It is most likely, imho, that the reader has come here to learn what the current consensus model is. (And what various flavors it divides into. That is, the NOT 'decided' science.) IF this article is about the history of Plate Tectonics (Continental Drift) theory, it should be renamed as that. If it's about the theory, the theory needs to be given more substance at the very beginning. (That is, What, Why, Where, When, and How (as already mentioned there's far, far too much "Who" here).

Next subject: Beginning. It is stated several times that plate tectonics "began" 3.8 billion yrs ago. Bald statement and without ANY explanation. Just one day physics began to occur, huh? (I can't resist being sarcastic here.) Origins are never easy to explain, since the common response is "Okay, but then, where did THAT come from?". The Earth's birth date is uncertain. The best evidence (that I know of) is lead (Pb) ores with formation dating to 4.54 bya (±50 My). It isn't clear to me when a rigid lithosphere formed. Without that, there would be no plate tectonics...or would there? IDK. From what little I've read, convection probably developed as the Earth accreted. The evidence is uncertain for a Late Heavy Bombardment (3.8 to 4.1 Gya) but that would be an "interesting" coincidence given 3.8 Gya is supposedly the "start" of Plate movement. I'll also note, just for completeness, that A) the Theia Impact occurred at ~ 4.4 Gya and B) Liquid water also (probably) existed on the Earth's surface starting at 4.4 Gya. What's needed is an explanation of why it took 500 million to 1 billion years for the plates to begin tectonic movement. (the Theia impact's caused surface heating which rapidly cooled?) and C) the search for where the Earth's (surface) water comes from has declined (arguably) as understanding of the water content of the Earth's interior has become better understood. Water is enormously important in the mechanical properties interior to the Earth (including viscosity and mechanical strength). 98.17.181.251 (talk) 19:09, 6 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The article starts with three sections that describe the theory before delving into the history of the theory's development. It wouldn't harm the article if the history section was cut down to about half its current size, however.

The onset of some sort of plate tectonics is likely to have been about 3.8 Gya, although there's plenty of discussion about when plate tectonics took on its current form. We do need a section on the development of global tectonics with time. The whole article could undoubtedly do with a rewrite, probably using Palin and Santosh 2021.Mikenorton (talk) 20:50, 6 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

A discussion of lowercasing the titles of all tectonic plates on Wikipedia was relisted at Talk:Eurasian Plate#Requested move 6 October 2024 a few days ago. Editors here may have an interest in participating before it closes. Randy Kryn (talk) 14:38, 18 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]