Indo - Australian Plate - wikipedia Indo - Australian Plate In orange and red is the Indo - Australian plate, shown as divided between the Indian Plate and the Australian Plate The Indo - Australian Plate is a major tectonic plate that includes the continent of Australia and surrounding ocean, and extends northwest to include the Indian subcontinent and adjacent waters. It was formed by the fusion of Indian and Australian plates 43 million years ago. Recent studies, and seismic events such as the 2012 Indian Ocean earthquakes, suggest that the Indo - Australian Plate may have broken up into two or three separate plates due primarily to stresses induced by the collision of the Indo - Australian Plate with Eurasia along the Himalayas, and that the Indian Plate and Australian Plate have been separate since at least 3 million years ago. The eastern part ( Australia ) is moving northward at the rate of 5.6 cm ( 2.2 in ) per year while the western part ( India ) is moving only at the rate of 3.7 cm ( 1.5 in ) per year due to the impediment of the Himalayas. This differential movement has resulted in the compression of the former plate near its center at Sumatra and the division into the Indian and Australian Plates. A third plate, known as the Capricorn Plate, may also be separating off the western side of the Indian plate as part of the continued breakup of the Indo - Australian Plate. References Jump up ^ ( 2010 ) Australia : The Land Where Time Began Jump up ^ ( 1995 ) Geologists Find : An Earth Plate Is Breaking in Two Jump up ^ R.R. Hillis, R.D. Müller. Evolution and Dynamics of the Australian Plate Jump up ^ Stein, Seth ; Sella, Giovanni F. ; Okai, Emile A. ( 2002 ). `` The January 26, 2001 Bhuj Earthquake and the Diffuse Western Boundary of the Indian Plate '' ( PDF ). American Geophysical Union. doi : 10.1029 / GD030p0243. Retrieved 2015 - 12 - 25. Jump up ^ ( 2012 ) Earth cracking up under Indian Ocean Jump up ^ ( 2012 ) April 2012 intra-oceanic seismicity off Sumatra boosted by the Banda - Aceh megathrust Jump up ^ ( 2012 ) Newscientist image Jump up ^ `` Sumatra quake was part of crustal plate breakup : Study shows huge jolt measured 8.7, ripped at least 4 faults ''. Phys.Org. 2012 - 09 - 26. Retrieved 2012 - 10 - 06. Tectonic plates Major African Indo - Australian Plate Antarctic Eurasian North American Pacific South American Minor Amurian Arabian Caribbean Caroline Cocos Juan de Fuca Nazca Okhotsk Philippine Scotia Somali Yangtze Other Adriatic Aegean Sea Anatolian Australian Balmoral Reef Banda Sea Bird 's Head Burma Capricorn Conway Reef Easter Explorer Futuna Galapagos Gonâve Gorda Greenland Halmahera Iberian Indian Iranian Juan Fernández Kerguelen Kermadec Madagascar Manus Maoke Mariana Molucca Sea New Hebrides Niuafo'ou North Andes North Bismarck North Galapagos Nubian Okinawa Panama Pelso Philippine Mobile Belt Rivera Sangihe Seychelles Shetland Solomon Sea South Bismarck South Sandwich Sunda Timor Tisza Tonga Woodlark Historical Baltic Bellingshausen Charcot Cimmeria Farallon Insular Intermontane Izanagi Kula Lhasa Malvinas Moa Phoenix List of tectonic plates Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Indo-Australian_Plate&oldid=804568280 '' Categories : Tectonic plates Geology of Australia Geology of India Geology of New Zealand New Guinea Geology of the Pacific Ocean Geology of the Indian Ocean Geology of Indonesia Talk About Wikipedia Azərbaycanca বাংলা भोजपुरी Català Dansk Deutsch Español Esperanto فارسی 한국어 हिन्दी Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Italiano Magyar 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk Polski Português Русский Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Svenska தமிழ் Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 9 October 2017, at 21 : 06. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: which landmass is moving northward with australia as part of the same tectonic plate
Answer: Indian subcontinent