List of tectonic plates facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Map of Earth's 16 principal tectonic plates, showing plate boundary types:
Divergent:

Spreading center

Extension zone

Convergent:

Subduction zone

Collision zone

Transform:

Dextral transform

Sinistral transform

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.

Current plates
Ancient tectonic plates
See also

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

Map showing Earth's principal tectonic plates and their boundaries in detail

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.

African Plate – 61,300,000 km²
Antarctic Plate – 60,900,000 km²
Eurasian Plate – 67,800,000 km²
Indo-Australian Plate (sometimes considered to be two separate tectonic plates) – 58,900,000 km²
- Australian Plate – 47,000,000 km²
- Indian Plate – 11,900,000 km²
North American Plate – 75,900,000 km²
Pacific Plate – 103,300,000 km²
South American Plate – 43,600,000 km²

Minor plates

These smaller plates are often not shown on major plate maps, as the majority 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.

Amurian Plate
Arabian Plate – 5,000,000 km²
Burma Plate – 1,100,000 km²
Caribbean Plate – 3,300,000 km²
Caroline Plate – 1,700,000 km²
Cocos Plate – 2,900,000 km²
Indian Plate – 11,900,000 km²
Nazca Plate – 15,600,000 km²
New Hebrides Plate – 1,100,000 km²
Okhotsk Plate
Philippine Sea Plate – 5,500,000 km²
Scotia Plate – 1,600,000 km²
Somali Plate – 16,700,000 km²
Sunda Plate
Yangtze Plate

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. The latest studies have shown that microplates are the basic elements of which the crust is composed and that the larger plates are composed of amalgamations of these, and a subdivision of ca. 1200 smaller plates has come forward.

The new Global Tectonic Map with the subdivision of the Continents, Oceans and Mobile mountain belts in ca. 1200 smaller plates. Legend: Green: Terrane (microplate) boundaries in the Continental Blocks, Cyan: Terranes of the Oceanic Plates, Orange: terranes inside the Mobile Belts, Blue: Oceanic transform faults; Red: Fault zones in the Continental and Mountain belt domain; Purple: Main subduction zones and suture zones; Orange dots: volcanoes.

African Plate
- Lwandle Plate
- Rovuma Plate
- Victoria Microplate
Antarctic Plate
- East Antarctic Plate
- Shetland Plate
- West Antarctic Plate
Australian Plate
- Capricorn Plate
- Futuna Plate
- Kermadec Plate
- Macquarie Plate
- Maoke Plate
- Niuafo'ou Plate
- Tonga Plate
- Woodlark Plate
Caribbean Plate
- Gonâve Microplate
- North Hispaniola Microplate
- Panama Plate
- Puerto Rico-Virgin Islands Microplate
- South Jamaica Microplate
Cocos Plate
- Rivera Plate
Eurasian Plate
- Adriatic Plate, also known as the Apulian Plate
- Aegean Sea Plate, also known as Hellenic Plate
- Anatolian Plate
- Azores Microplate
- Banda Sea Plate
- Hreppar Microplate – Small tectonic plate in south Iceland, between the Eurasian Plate and the North American Plate
- Iberian Plate
- Iranian Plate
- Molucca Sea Plate
  - Halmahera Plate
  - Sangihe Plate
- Okinawa Plate
- Pelso Plate
- Timor Plate
- Tisza Plate
Juan de Fuca Plate – 250,000 km²
- Explorer Plate
- Gorda Plate
Nazca Plate
- Coiba Plate
- Malpelo Plate
North American Plate
- Greenland Plate
- Queen Elizabeth Islands Subplate
Pacific Plate
- Balmoral Reef Plate
- Bird's Head Plate
- Conway Reef Plate
- Easter Microplate
- Galápagos Microplate
- Juan Fernández Plate
- Manus Plate
- North Bismarck Plate
- North Galápagos Microplate
- Solomon Sea Plate
- South Bismarck Plate
- Trobriand Plate
Philippine Sea Plate
- Mariana Plate
- Philippine Mobile Belt, also known as Philippine Microplate
Scotia Plate
- South Sandwich Plate
Somali Plate
- Madagascar Plate
South American Plate
- Altiplano Plate
- Falklands Microplate
- North Andes 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

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)
Tanzania 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)

Antarctic Plate

Bellingshausen Plate
Charcot Plate
East Antarctic Shield, also known as East Antarctic Craton
Phoenix Plate

Eurasian Plate

Armorica (France, Germany, Spain and Portugal)
Avalonia (Canada, Great Britain, and United States)
Baltic Plate
Belomorian Craton
Central Iberian Plate
Cimmerian Plate (Anatolia, Iran, Afghanistan, Tibet, Indochina and Malaya)
East China Craton
East European Craton
Baltic Shield, also known as Fennoscandian Shield
Junggar Plate and Eastern Kazakhstan
Hunic plate
Karelian Craton
Kazakhstania and the Junngar Basin in China
Kola Craton
Lhasa terrane
Massif Central
Moldanubian Plate
Moravo Silesian Plate
Midlands Microcraton
North Atlantic Craton
North China Craton
Ossa-Morena Plate
Piemont-Liguria Plate
Proto-Alps Terrane
Rhenohercynian Plate
Sarmatian Craton
Saxothuringian Plate
Siberian Craton
South Portuguese Plate
Tarim Craton
Teplá-Barrandian Terrane
Ukrainian Shield
Valais Plate
Volgo-Uralian Craton
Yakutai Craton
Yangtze Craton

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
Central Craton (Australia)
Curnamona Craton (Australia)
Gawler Craton
Indian Craton
Narooma Terrane
Pilbara Craton
Singhbhum Craton (India)
Yilgarn Craton
Australian Shield, also known as Western Australian Shield
Zealandia. See Moa Plate and Lord Howe Rise

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, also known as North American Craton (Canada and United States)
Insular Plate
Intermontane Plate
Izanagi Plate
Mexican Plate
Nain Province (Canada)
Newfoundland Plate
North Atlantic Craton
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)
Río de la Plata Craton (Argentina and Uruguay)
São Francisco Craton (Brazil)
Arequipa–Antofalla Craton (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru)