Final answer:
Tectonics describes the disruption of a planet's surface caused by internal stresses, leading to continental drift, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and other geological features.
Step-by-step explanation:
Tectonics refers to the disruption of a planet's surface by internal stresses. This geological phenomenon encompasses the movement of plate tectonics, where Earth's crustal plates shift and move due to mantle convection. Such movement leads to various features and activities including continental drift, mountain building, rift zones, subduction zones, faults, earthquakes, and the eruption of molten rock, or lava, from a planet's interior to its surface. These tectonic processes are fundamental to the formation of large-scale geological features on Earth and are analogous to the mechanisms that transport heat from the planet's interior out to space.