List of tectonic plates

List of tectonic plates
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 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.
Current plates
Geologists generally agree that the following tectonic plates currently exist on 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.
– 61,300,000 km2
– 60,900,000 km2
– 67,800,000 km2
(sometimes considered to be two separate tectonic plates) – 58,900,000 km2
– 47,000,000 km2
– 11,900,000 km2
– 75,900,000 km2
– 103,300,000 km2
– 43,600,000 km2
Minor plates
These smaller plates are often not shown on major plate maps, as the majority of them 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.
– 5,000,000 km2
– 1,100,000 km2
– 3,300,000 km2
– 1,700,000 km2
– 2,900,000 km2
– 15,600,000 km2
– 1,100,000 km2
– 5,500,000 km2
– 1,600,000 km2
– 16,700,000 km2
Microplates
These plates are often grouped with an adjacent principal plate on a tectonic plate world 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 Earth's lithosphere) like the Apulian, Explorer, Gorda, and Philippine Mobile Belt plates.
One study has theorized that microplates may be the basic elements of which the crust is composed.
African Plate
Antarctic Plate
Australian Plate
Caribbean Plate
Cocos Plate
Eurasian Plate
– Small tectonic plate in south Iceland, between the Eurasian Plate and the North American Plate
Nazca Plate
North American Plate
Pacific Plate
– 250,000 km2
Philippine Sea Plate
Scotia Plate
Somali Plate
South American Plate
(mainly in Colombia, minor parts in Ecuador and Venezuela)
Ancient tectonic plates
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.
The following is a list of ancient cratons, microplates, plates, and terranes which no longer exist as separate plates. Cratons are the oldest and most stable parts of the continental lithosphere, and shields are exposed parts of them. Terranes are fragments of crustal material formed on one tectonic plate and accreted to crust lying on another plate, which may or may not have originated as independent microplates: a terrane may not contain the full thickness of the lithosphere.
African Plate
(Zambia)
(Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Sudan, and Zambia)
(South Africa)
(South Africa)
(Algeria)
(Zimbabwe)
(Tanzania)
(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)
Antarctic Plate
Eurasian Plate
(France, Germany, Spain and Portugal)
(Canada, Great Britain, and United States)
Belomorian Craton
Central Iberian Plate
(Anatolia, Iran, Afghanistan, Tibet, Indochina and Malaya)
East China Craton
and Eastern Kazakhstan
and the Junngar Basin in China
Moravo Silesian Plate
Ossa-Morena Plate
Proto-Alps Terrane
South Portuguese Plate
Tarim Craton
Teplá-Barrandian Terrane
Volgo-Uralian Craton
Yakutai Craton
Indo-Australian Plate
Altjawarra Craton (Australia)
Bhandara Craton, (India)
Bundelkhand Craton, (India)
Central Craton (Australia)
Curnamona Craton (Australia)
Singhbhum Craton (India)
. See Moa Plate and Lord Howe Rise
North American Plate
(Canada, Great Britain, and United States)
(Canada)
(split into the Cocos, Explorer, Juan de Fuca, Gorda Plates, Nazca Plate, and Rivera Plates)
(United States)
(Canada)
(Canada and United States)
Mexican Plate
(Canada)
Newfoundland Plate
Nova Scotia Plate
(Canada)
Sask Craton (Canada)
(Canada)
(Canada)
(Canada)
(United States)
South American Plate
(Brazil)
(Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela)
(Argentina and Uruguay)
(Brazil)
(Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru)
See also
List of tectonic plate interactions – Types of plate boundaries
Notes and references
Notes
References
Bibliography
North Andes Plate
External links
Bird, Peter (2003) An updated digital model of plate boundaries also available as a large (13 Mb) PDF file
Tectonic plates