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List of tectonic plates

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The 15 major plates
Plate tectonics map from NASA

This is a list of tectonic plates on Earth's surface. Tectonic plates are pieces of Earth's crust and uppermost mantle, together referred to as the lithosphere. The plates are around 100 km (62 mi) thick and consist of two principal types of material: oceanic crust (also called sima from silicon and magnesium) and continental crust (sial from silicon and aluminium). The composition of the two types of crust differs markedly, with mafic basaltic rocks dominating oceanic crust, while continental crust consists principally of lower-density felsic granitic rocks.

Components

  • Continent – Large geographical region identified by convention
  • Plate boundaries – Types of plate boundaries
  • Craton – Old and stable part of the continental lithosphere
  • Crust – Outermost solid shell of astronomical bodies
  • Lithosphere – Outermost shell of a terrestrial-type planet or natural satellite
  • Mantle – Layer inside a planet between core and crust
  • Oceanic crust – Uppermost layer of the oceanic portion of a tectonic plate
  • Shield – Large stable area of exposed Precambrian crystalline rock
  • Supercontinent – Landmass comprising more than one continental core, or craton
  • Tectonic plate – Movement of Earth's lithosphere
  • Terrane – Fragment of crust formed on one tectonic plate and accreted to another

Current plates

Geologists generally agree that the following tectonic plates currently exist on the Earth's surface with roughly definable boundaries. Tectonic plates are sometimes subdivided into three fairly arbitrary categories: major (or primary) plates, minor (or secondary) plates, and microplates (or tertiary plates).

Major plates

These plates comprise the bulk of the continents and the Pacific Ocean. For purposes of this list, a major plate is any plate with an area greater than 20 million km2.

  • Pacific Plate – Oceanic tectonic plate under the Pacific Ocean – 103,300,000 km2
  • North American Plate – Large tectonic plate including most of North America, Greenland and part of Siberia – 75,900,000 km2
  • Eurasian Plate – Tectonic plate which includes most of the continent of Eurasia – 67,800,000 km2
  • African Plate – Tectonic plate underlying Africa – 61,300,000 km2
  • Antarctic Plate – Major tectonic plate containing Antarctica and the surrounding ocean floor – 60,900,000 km2
  • Indo-Australian Plate – Major tectonic plate formed by the fusion of the Indian and Australian plates – 58,900,000 km2 often considered two plates:
    • Australian Plate – Major tectonic plate separated from Indo-Australian Plate about 3 million years ago – 47,000,000 km2
    • Indian Plate – Minor plate that separated from Gondwana – 11,900,000 km2
  • South American Plate – Major tectonic plate which includes most of South America and a large part of the south Atlantic – 43,600,000 km2

Minor plates

These smaller plates are often not shown on major plate maps, as the majority do not comprise significant land area. For purposes of this list, a minor plate is any plate with an area less than 20 million km2 but greater than 1 million km2.

  • Somali Plate – Minor tectonic plate including the east coast of Africa and the adjoining seabed – 16,700,000 km2
  • Nazca Plate – Oceanic tectonic plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean basin – 15,600,000 km2[note 1]
  • Amurian Plate – A minor tectonic plate in eastern Asia
  • Sunda Plate – Tectonic plate including Southeast Asia
  • Philippine Sea Plate – Oceanic tectonic plate to the east of the Philippines – 5,500,000 km2
  • Okhotsk Plate – Minor tectonic plate in Asia
  • Arabian Plate – Minor tectonic plate – 5,000,000 km2
  • Yangtze Plate – Small tectonic plate carrying the bulk of southern China
  • Caribbean Plate – A mostly oceanic tectonic plate including part of Central America and the Caribbean Sea – 3,300,000 km2
  • Cocos Plate – Young oceanic tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Central America – 2,900,000 km2
  • Caroline Plate – Minor oceanic tectonic plate north of New Guinea – 1,700,000 km2
  • Scotia Plate – Minor oceanic tectonic plate between the Antarctic and South American plates – 1,600,000 km2
  • Juan de Fuca Plate – Small tectonic plate in the eastern North Pacific
  • Burma Plate – Minor tectonic plate in Southeast Asia – 1,100,000 km2
  • New Hebrides Plate – Minor tectonic plate in the Pacific Ocean near Vanuatu – 1,100,000 km2

Microplates

These plates are often grouped with an adjacent major plate on a major plate map. For purposes of this list, a microplate is any plate with an area less than 1 million km2. Some models identify more minor plates within current orogens (events that lead to a large structural deformation of the Earth's lithosphere) like the Apulian, Explorer, Gorda, and Philippine Mobile Belt plates. There may be scientific consensus as to whether such plates should be considered distinct portions of the crust; thus, new research could change this list.[1][2][3][4]

  • African Plate
    • Lwandle Plate – Mainly oceanic tectonic microplate off the southeast coast of Africa
    • Madagascar Plate – Tectonic plate formerly part of the supercontinent Gondwana
    • Rovuma Plate – One of three tectonic microplates that contribute to the Nubian Plate and the Somali Plate
    • Victoria Plate
    • Seychelles microcontinent – A microcontinent underlying the Seychelles Islands in the western Indian Ocean
  • Antarctic Plate
  • Australian Plate
    • Capricorn Plate – Proposed minor tectonic plate under the Indian Ocean
    • Futuna Plate – Very small tectonic plate near the south Pacific island of Futuna
    • Kermadec Plate – Tectonic plate in the south Pacific Ocean
    • Maoke Plate – Small tectonic plate in western New Guinea
    • Niuafo'ou Plate – Small tectonic plate west of Tonga
    • Tonga Plate – Small tectonic plate in the southwest Pacific Ocean
    • Woodlark Plate – Small tectonic plate located to the east of the island of New Guinea
  • Caribbean Plate
    • Panama Plate – Small tectonic plate in Central America
    • Gonâve Microplate – Part of the boundary between the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate
    • South Jamaica Microplate
    • North Hispaniola Microplate
    • Puerto Rico-Virgin Islands Microplate
  • Cocos Plate
    • Rivera Plate – Small tectonic plate off the west coast of Mexico
  • Eurasian Plate
    • Adriatic Plate, also known as Apulian Plate – A small tectonic plate in the Mediterranean
    • Aegean Sea Plate, also known as Hellenic Plate – A small tectonic plate in the eastern Mediterranean Sea
    • Anatolian Plate – Continental tectonic plate comprising most of the Anatolia (Asia Minor) peninsula
    • Banda Sea Plate – Minor tectonic plate underlying the Banda Sea in southeast Asia
    • Iberian Plate – Small tectonic plate now part of the Eurasian plate
    • Iranian Plate – Small tectonic plate including Iran and Afghanistan, and parts of Iraq and Pakistan
    • Molucca Sea Plate – Small fully subducted tectonic plate near Indonesia
    • Okinawa Plate – Minor tectonic plate from the northern end of Taiwan to the southern tip of Kyūshū
    • Pelso Plate – Small tectonic unit in the Pannonian Basin in Europe
    • Timor Plate – Microplate in Southeast Asia carrying the island of Timor and surrounding islands
    • Tisza Plate – Tectonic microplate, in present-day Europe
  • Nazca Plate
    • Coiba Plate – Tectonic plate off the coast south of Panama and northwestern Colombia
    • Malpelo Plate – A small tectonic plate off the coast west of Ecuador and Colombia
  • North American Plate
    • Queen Elizabeth Islands Subplate – Small tectonic plate containing the Queen Elizabeth Islands of Northern Canada
    • Greenland Plate – Supposed tectonic microplate containing the Greenland craton
    • Explorer Plate – Oceanic tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Vancouver Island, Canada
    • Gorda Plate – One of the northern remnants of the Farallon Plate
  • Pacific Plate
  • Philippine Sea Plate
  • South American Plate

Ancient continental formations

In the history of Earth many tectonic plates have come into existence and have over the intervening years either accreted onto other plates to form larger plates, rifted into smaller plates, or have been crushed by or subducted under other plates (or have done all three).

Ancient supercontinents

Supercontinent – Landmass comprising more than one continental core, or craton

  • List of supercontinents – Landmass comprising more than one continental core, or craton
  • Supercontinent cycle – Repeated joining and separation of Earth's continents

The following list includes the supercontinents known or speculated to have existed in the Earth's past:

  • Columbia – Ancient supercontinent of approximately 2,500 to 1,500 million years ago
  • Euramerica – Northern landmass that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent
  • Gondwana – Neoproterozoic to Cretaceous landmass
  • Kenorland – Hypothetical Neoarchaean supercontinent from about 2.8 billion years ago
  • Laurasia – Northern landmass that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent
  • Nena – Early Proterozoic supercontinent
  • Pangaea – Supercontinent from the late Paleozoic to early Mesozoic eras
  • Pannotia – Hypothesized Neoproterozoic supercontinent
  • Proto-Laurasia – Northern landmass that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent
  • Rodinia – Hypothetical Neoproterozoic supercontinent
  • Ur – Hypothetical Archaean supercontinent from about 3.1 billion years ago
  • Vaalbara – Archaean supercontinent from about 3.6 to 2.7 billion years ago

Ancient plates and cratons

Not all plate boundaries are easily defined, especially for ancient pieces of crust. The following list of ancient cratons, microplates, plates, shields, terranes, and zones no longer exist as separate plates. Cratons are the oldest and most stable parts of the continental lithosphere and shields are the exposed area of a craton(s). Microplates are tiny tectonic plates, terranes are fragments of crustal material formed on one tectonic plate and accreted to crust lying on another plate, and zones are bands of similar rocks on a plate formed by terrane accretion or native rock formation. Terranes may or may not have originated as independent microplates: a terrane may not contain the full thickness of the lithosphere.

African Plate

Antarctic Plate

  • Bellingshausen Plate – Ancient tectonic plate that fused onto the Antarctic Plate
  • Charcot Plate – Fragment of the Phoenix tectonic plate fused to the Antarctic Peninsula
  • East Antarctic Shield, also known as East Antarctic Craton – Cratonic rock body which makes up most of the continent Antarctica
  • Phoenix Plate – Tectonic plate that existed during the early Paleozoic through late Cenozoic time

Eurasian Plate

  • Armorica – Microcontinent or group of continental fragments rifted away from Gondwana (France, Germany, Spain and Portugal)
  • Avalonia – Microcontinent in the Paleozoic era (Canada, Great Britain, and United States)
  • Baltic Plate – Ancient tectonic plate from the Cambrian to the Carboniferous Period
  • Belomorian Craton
  • Central Iberian Plate
  • Cimmerian Plate – Ancient string of microcontinents that rifted from Gondwana (Anatolia, Iran, Afghanistan, Tibet, Indochina and Malaya)
  • East China Craton
  • East European Craton – Geology of Europe
  • Baltic Shield, also known as Fennoscandian Shield – Ancient segment of Earth's crust
  • Junggar Plate – Geographical subregion in Northwest China
  • Hunic plate
  • Karelian Craton – Region comprising the Scandinavian Peninsula, Finland, Karelia, and the Kola Peninsula
  • Kazakhstania – Geological region in Central Asia
  • Kola Craton – Geographical peninsula in Europe
  • Lhasa terrane – Fragment of crustal material that forms present-day southern Tibet
  • Massif Central – Highland region in southern France
  • Moldanubian Plate – A tectonic zone in Europe formed during the Variscan or Hercynian Orogeny
  • Moravo Silesian Plate
  • Midlands Microcraton – Block of late Neoproterozoic crust which underlies the English Midlands
  • North Atlantic Craton – Archaean craton exposed in Greenland, Labrador, and northwestern Scotland
  • North China Craton – Continental crustal block in northeast China, Inner Mongolia, the Yellow Sea, and North Korea
  • Ossa-Morena Plate
  • Piemont-Liguria Plate – Former piece of oceanic crust that is seen as part of the Tethys Ocean
  • Proto-Alps Terrane
  • Rhenohercynian Plate – Fold belt of west and central Europe, formed during the Hercynian orogeny
  • Sarmatian Craton – The southern part of the East European Craton or Baltica, also known as Scythian Plateau
  • Saxothuringian Plate – Structural or tectonic zone in the Hercynian or Variscan orogen of central and western Europe
  • Siberian Craton – Ancient craton forming the Central Siberian Plateau
  • South Portuguese Plate
  • Tarim Craton
  • Teplá-Barrandian Terrane
  • Ukrainian Shield – The southwest shield of the East European craton
  • Valais Plate – Subducted ocean basin. Remnants found in the Alps in the North Penninic nappes.
  • Volgo-Uralian Craton
  • Yakutai Craton
  • Yangtze Craton – Precambrian continental block located in China

Indo-Australian Plate

Basic geological regions of Australia, by age
Map of chronostratigraphic divisions of India
  • Altjawarra Craton (Australia)
  • Bhandara Craton, (India)
  • Bundelkhand Craton, (India)
  • Dharwar Craton – Part of the Indian Shield in south India
  • Central Craton (Australia)
  • Curnamona Craton (Australia)
  • Gawler Craton – Province of the larger West Australian Shield in central South Australia
  • Indian Craton – Geological origins and structure of India
  • Narooma Terrane – Geological structural region on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia
  • Pilbara Craton – Old and stable part of the continental lithosphere located in Pilbara, Western Australia
  • Singhbhum Craton (India)
  • Yilgarn Craton – Large craton in Western Australia
  • Australian Shield, also known as Western Australian Shield – Large part of the continent of Australia
  • Zealandia – Mostly submerged continental crust area in Oceania. See Moa Plate and Lord Howe Rise (New Zealand).

North American Plate

North American cratons and basement rocks
  • Avalonia – Microcontinent in the Paleozoic era (Canada, Great Britain, and United States)
  • Carolina Plate – Exotic terrane from central Georgia to central Virginia in the United States
  • Churchill Craton – Geologic region in Canada (Canada)
  • Farallon Plate – Ancient oceanic plate that has mostly subducted under the North American Plate (split into the Cocos, Explorer, Juan de Fuca, Gorda Plates, Nazca Plate, and Rivera Plates)
  • Florida Plate – Overview of the geology of the U.S. state of Florida (United States)
  • Hearne Craton – Craton in northern Canada (Canada)
  • Laurentian Craton, also known as North American Craton – Craton forming the geological core of North America (Canada and United States)
  • Insular Plate – Ancient oceanic plate
  • Intermontane Plate – Ancient oceanic tectonic plate on the west coast of North America about 195 million years ago
  • Izanagi Plate – Ancient tectonic plate
  • Mexican Plate
  • Nain Province – Part of the North Atlantic Craton in Labrador, Canada (Canada)
  • Newfoundland Plate
  • North Atlantic Craton – Archaean craton exposed in Greenland, Labrador, and northwestern Scotland
  • Nova Scotia Plate
  • Rae Craton – Archean craton in northern Canada north of the Superior Craton (Canada)
  • Sask Craton (Canada)
  • Sclavia Craton – Late Archean supercraton (Canada)
  • Slave Craton – Area of ancient rocks in northwest Canada (Canada)
  • Superior Craton – Large crustal block in North America (Canada)
  • Wyoming Craton – Craton in the west-central United States and western Canada (United States)

South American Plate

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ^ 15,600,000 km2 is the original size before the 2017 split of the Coiba and Malpelo Plates

References

  1. ^ Tetsuzo Seno, Taro Sakurai, and Seth Stein. 1996. Can the Okhotsk plate be discriminated from the North American plate? J. Geophys. Res., 101, 11305-11315 (abstract)
  2. ^ Bird, P. (2003). "An updated digital model of plate boundaries". Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 4 (3): 1027. doi:10.1029/2001GC000252. http://peterbird.name/publications/2003_PB2002/2003_PB2002.htm.
  3. ^ Timothy M. Kusky; Erkan Toraman; Tsilavo Raharimahefa (2006-11-20). "The Great Rift Valley of Madagascar: An extension of the Africa–Somali diffusive plate boundary?". International Association for Gondwana Research Published by Elsevier B.V. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |last-author-amp= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Niels Henriksen; A.K. Higgins; Feiko Kalsbeek; T. Christopher R. Pulvertaft (2000). "Greenland from Archaean to Quaternary" (PDF). No. 185. Greenland Survey Bulletin. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-12-07. Retrieved 2009-10-04.

Bibliography

North Andes Plate

Further reading

External links

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