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Plate tectonics is the movement and recycling of a planet's lithosphere as discrete plates over a deformable mantle. Mantle convection, the negative buoyancy of cool subducting slabs (slab pull), and gravitational sliding from elevated spreading ridges (ridge push) supply driving stresses; deformation and friction resist motion. The mantle mostly deforms by slow solid-state creep, rather than being a global liquid layer.

Its effects include subduction and recycling of crust, creation of new crust, mountain building, earthquakes and volcanism, transport of internal heat, and recycling of water and carbon. The carbonate-silicate cycle can couple volcanic CO2 supply to weathering and long-term climate.

Three major controls on a super-Earth's tectonic mode are:

A larger mass alone does not establish active plate tectonics. The competition between driving stress, yielding and sustained slab buoyancy must be evaluated for the planet's composition and thermal history.

A mobile-lid mode of planetary evolution in which coherent pieces of the lithosphere move, form at spreading regions and can recycle through subduction. Slab pull, ridge push and mantle flow compete with deformation resistance. It affects heat transport, volcanism, earthquakes and the carbonate-silicate cycle. It is not guaranteed solely by an exoplanet's mass.

Gravitational sliding of lithospheric material away from elevated spreading regions. It supplies a driving contribution to plate tectonics together with slab pull and mantle stresses.

Downward recycling of a lithospheric plate into the mantle. A sufficiently cold, dense slab can provide slab pull, while bending and friction resist motion. The resulting material and volatile recycling connects plate tectonics with volcanism and long-term climate.