List of tectonic plates - wikipedia List of tectonic plates The 15 major plates Plate tectonics map from NASA This is a list of tectonic plates on the 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. Contents 1 Current plates 1.1 Major / main plates 1.2 Minor plates 1.3 Microplates 2 Ancient continental formations 2.1 Ancient supercontinents 2.2 Ancient plates and cratons 2.2. 1 African plate 2.2. 2 Antarctica plate 2.2. 3 Eurasian plate 2.2. 4 Indo - Australian plate 2.2. 5 North American plate 2.2. 6 South American plate 3 References 4 External links 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 / main 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 km. Pacific Plate -- 103,300,000 km North American Plate -- 75,900,000 km Eurasian Plate -- 67,800,000 km African Plate -- 61,300,000 km Antarctic Plate -- 60,900,000 km Indo - Australian Plate -- 58,900,000 km often considered two plates : Australian Plate -- 47,000,000 km Indian Plate -- 11,900,000 km South American Plate -- 43,600,000 km 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 km but greater than 1 million km. Somali Plate -- 16,700,000 km Nazca Plate -- 15,600,000 km Philippine Plate -- 5,500,000 km Arabian Plate -- 5,000,000 km Caribbean Plate -- 3,300,000 km Cocos Plate -- 2,900,000 km Caroline Plate -- 1,700,000 km Scotia Plate -- 1,600,000 km Burma Plate -- 1,100,000 km New Hebrides Plate -- 1,100,000 km 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 km. 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. African Plate Lwandle Plate Madagascar Plate Rovuma Plate Seychelles microcontinent Antarctic Plate Shetland Plate South Sandwich Plate Australian Plate Capricorn Plate Futuna Plate Kermadec Plate Maoke Plate Niuafo'ou Plate Tonga Plate Woodlark Plate Caribbean Plate Panama Plate Gonâve Microplate Cocos Plate Rivera 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 Halmahera Plate Sangihe Plate Okinawa Plate Pelso Plate Sunda Plate Timor Plate Tisza Plate Yangtze Plate Nazca Plate Coiba Plate Malpelo Plate North American Plate Greenland Plate Okhotsk Plate Juan de Fuca Plate Explorer Plate Gorda Plate Pacific Plate Balmoral Reef Plate Bird 's Head Plate Caroline Plate Conway Reef Plate Easter Plate Galapagos Microplate Juan Fernandez Plate Kula Plate Manus Plate New Hebrides Plate North Bismarck Plate North Galápagos Microplate Solomon Sea Plate South Bismarck Plate Philippine Sea Plate Mariana Plate Philippine Microplate 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, 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 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 Bellingshausen Plate Charcot Plate East Antarctic Craton Phoenix 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 ) Midlands Microcraton ( 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 ) 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 Basic geological regions of Australia, by age. Map of chronostratigraphic divisions of India 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 North American cratons and basement rocks. 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 Jump up ^ 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 ) Jump up ^ 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. Jump up ^ 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. Jump up ^ Niels Henriksen ; A.K. Higgins ; Feiko Kalsbeek ; T. Christopher R. Pulvertaft ( 2000 ). `` Greenland from Archaean to Quaternary '' ( PDF ) ( 185 ). Greenland Survey Bulletin. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 2008 - 12 - 07. Retrieved 2009 - 10 - 04. External links Bird, Peter ( 2003 ) An updated digital model of plate boundaries also available as a large ( 13 Mb ) PDF file hide 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 Coiba Conway Reef Easter Explorer Futuna Galapagos Gonâve Gorda Greenland Halmahera Iberian Indian Iranian Juan Fernández Kerguelen Kermadec Madagascar Malpelo 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 Earth science Commons Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_tectonic_plates&oldid=844702922 '' Categories : Geology - related lists Tectonic plates Talk Contents About Wikipedia Čeština Deutsch Español Euskara Français Gaeilge Nordfriisk Norsk Oromoo Simple English Slovenčina Tiếng Việt 中文 4 more Edit links This page was last edited on 6 June 2018, at 15 : 29. 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Question: plates that make up the earth's crust
Answer: Tectonic plates