List of tectonic plates
![](../I/m/Plates_tect2_en.svg.png)
![](../I/m/Plate_tectonics_map.gif)
This is a list of tectonic plates on Earth. 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 basaltic rocks ("mafic") dominating oceanic crust, while continental crust consists principally of lower density granitic rocks ("felsic"). See also Plate tectonics.
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 – 103,300,000 km2
- North American Plate – 75,900,000 km2
- Eurasian Plate – 67,800,000 km2
- African Plate – 61,300,000 km2
- Antarctic Plate – 60,900,000 km2
- Indo-Australian Plate – 58,900,000 km2 often considered two plates:
- Australian Plate – 47,000,000 km2
- Indian Plate – 11,900,000 km2
- South American Plate – 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 – 16,700,000 km2
- Nazca Plate – 15,600,000 km2
- Philippine Sea Plate – 5,500,000 km2
- Arabian Plate – 5,000,000 km2
- Caribbean Plate – 3,300,000 km2
- Cocos Plate – 2,900,000 km2
- Caroline Plate – 1,700,000 km2
- Scotia Plate – 1,600,000 km2
- Burma Plate – 1,100,000 km2
- New Hebrides Plate – 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 like the Apulian, Explorer, Gorda, and Philippine Mobile Belt plates. There may or may not 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
- Madagascar Plate
- Rovuma Plate
- Seychelles microcontinent
- Victoria Plate
- Antarctic Plate
- Caribbean Plate
- Cocos Plate
- Eurasian Plate
- Adriatic Plate (or Apulian Plate)
- Aegean Sea Plate (or Hellenic Plate)
- Amurian Plate
- Anatolian Plate
- Banda Sea Plate
- Iberian Plate
- Iranian Plate
- Molucca Sea Plate
- Okinawa Plate
- Pelso Plate
- Sunda Plate
- Timor Plate
- Tisza Plate
- Yangtze Plate
- Australian Plate
- North American Plate
- Pacific Plate
- Philippine Sea Plate
- South American Plate
- Altiplano Plate
- Falklands Microplate
- North Andes 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
A supercontinent is a landmass consisting of multiple continental cores. The following list includes the supercontinents known or speculated to have existed in the Earth's past:
- Columbia
- Euramerica
- Gondwana
- Kenorland
- Laurasia
- Nena
- Pangaea
- Pannotia
- Proto-Laurasia
- Rodinia
- Ur
- Vaalbara
Ancient plates and cratons
Not all plate boundaries are easily defined, this is especially true 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 since a terrane may not contain the full thickness of the lithosphere.
African plate
- Atlantica
- Bangweulu Block (Zambia)
- Congo Craton (Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Sudan, and Zambia)
- Kaapvaal Craton (South Africa)
- Kalahari Craton (South Africa)
- Saharan Metacraton (Algeria)
- Sebakwe proto-Craton (Zimbabwe)
- Tanzanian Craton (Tanzania)
- West African Craton (Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo)
- Zaire Craton (Congo)
- Zimbabwe Craton (Zimbabwe)
Antarctica plate
Eurasian plate
- Armorica (France, Germany, Spain and Portugal)
- Avalonia (Canada, Great Britain, and United States)
- Baltic Plate (Russia)
- Belomorian Craton
- Central Iberian Plate (Spain)
- Cimmerian Plate (Anatolia, Iran, Afghanistan, Tibet, Indochina and Malaya)
- East China Craton (China)
- East European Craton (Russia and Scandinavia)
- Fennoscandian Shield (Norway, Sweden, and Finland)
- Junggar Plate (China)
- Hunic plate
- Karelian Craton (Finland and Russia)
- Kazakhstania (Kazakhstan)
- Kola Craton (northwest Russia)
- Lhasa terrane
- Massif Central
- Moldanubian Plate (Austria)
- Moravo Silesian Plate (Czech Republic)
- Midland Craton (Great Britain)
- North Atlantic Craton
- North China Craton (China and Korea)
- Ossa-Morena Plate (Spain)
- Piemont-Liguria Plate
- Proto-Alps Terrane (Austria)
- Rhenohercynian Plate
- Sarmatian Craton (Ukraine)
- Sarmatian Craton
- Saxothuringian Plate
- Siberian Craton (Russia)
- South Portuguese Plate (Portugal)
- Tarim Craton (China)
- Teplá-Barrandian Terrane (Czech Republic)
- Ukrainian Shield (Ukraine)
- Valais Plate
- Volgo-Uralian Craton, (Russia)
- Yakutai Craton, eastern (Russia)
- Yangtze Craton (China)
Indo-Australian plate
![](../I/m/Ausgeolbasic.jpg)
![](../I/m/India_Geology_Zones.jpg)
- Altjawarra Craton (Australia)
- Bhandara Craton, (India)
- Bundelkhand Craton, (India)
- Dharwar Craton, (India)
- Central Craton (Australia)
- Curnamona Craton (Australia)
- Gawler Craton (Australia)
- Indian Craton (India)
- Narooma Terrane (Australia)
- Pilbara Craton (Australia)
- Singhbhum Craton (India)
- Yilgarn Craton (Australia)
- Western Australian Shield (Australia)
- Zealandia, see Moa Plate and Lord Howe Rise (New Zealand)
North American plate
![](../I/m/North_america_basement_rocks.png)
- Avalonia (Canada, Great Britain, and United States)
- Carolina Plate
- Churchill Craton (Canada)
- Farallon Plate (split into the Cocos, Explorer, Juan de Fuca, Gorda Plates, Nazca Plate, and Rivera Plates)
- Florida Plate (United States)
- Hearne Craton (Canada)
- Laurentian Craton (Canada and United States)
- Insular Plate
- Intermontane Plate
- Izanagi Plate
- Mexican Plate (Mexico)
- Nain province (Canada)
- Newfoundland Plate (Canada)
- Nova Scotia Plate
- Rae Craton (Canada)
- Sask Craton (Canada)
- Sclavia Craton (Canada)
- Slave Craton (Canada)
- Superior Craton (Canada)
- Wyoming Craton (United States)
South American plate
- Amazonian craton (Brazil)
- Guiana Shield (Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela)
- Rio Apas craton (Brazil, Paraguay)
- Río de la Plata craton (Argentina and Uruguay)
- São Francisco craton (Brazil)
- Arequipa–Antofalla craton (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Peru)
References
- Bird, Peter (2003) An updated digital model of plate boundaries also available as a large (13 [[MiB) PDF file]
- ↑ 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)
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Niels Henriksen, A.K. Higgins, Feiko Kalsbeek and T. Christopher R. Pulvertaft (2000). "Greenland from Archaean to Quaternary" (PDF) (185). Greenland Survey Bulletin. Retrieved 2009-10-04.