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List of tectonic plates facts for kids

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Tectonic plates 2022
Map of Earth's 16 main tectonic plates. It shows how the plates meet:
Divergent:
  Where plates pull apart
  Areas stretching apart
Convergent:
  Where one plate slides under another
  Where plates crash together
Transform:
  Plates sliding past each other (right)
  Plates sliding past each other (left)
Plate tectonics map
A map of tectonic plates from NASA.

Our Earth's surface is not one solid piece. Instead, it's like a giant puzzle made of huge, moving pieces called tectonic plates. These plates are made of the Earth's crust and the very top part of the Earth's mantle, which together are called the lithosphere.

These plates are about 100 kilometers (60 miles) thick. They are made of two main types of material: oceanic crust (found under oceans) and continental crust (which makes up the land we live on). Oceanic crust is mostly made of heavy, dark rocks like basalt. Continental crust is lighter and made of rocks like granite.

Current Tectonic Plates

Scientists agree that there are many tectonic plates moving on Earth today. These plates have boundaries that can be mapped. Tectonic plates are often put into three groups based on their size: major plates, minor plates, and microplates.

Major Plates

Tectonic plates boundaries World map Wt 180degE centered-en
A detailed map showing Earth's main tectonic plates and their boundaries.

These are the biggest plates. They make up most of the continents and the Pacific Ocean. For this list, a major plate is any plate larger than 20 million square kilometers.

Minor Plates

These plates are smaller and often not shown on maps of the major plates. Most of them don't cover large land areas. For this list, a minor plate is smaller than 20 million km2 but larger 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

Microplates are the smallest plates, usually less than 1 million km2. They are often considered part of a larger nearby plate. Newer studies suggest that even larger plates are made up of many tiny microplates. Some scientists have identified about 1200 of these smaller pieces.

JPVD-NGTM2023-Comp2
A new map of Earth's plates, showing about 1200 smaller plates across continents, oceans, and mountain ranges. Green shows microplate borders in continents. Cyan shows microplates in oceans. Orange shows microplates in mountain belts. Blue lines are ocean faults. Red lines are faults in continents and mountains. Purple lines are main subduction and collision zones. Orange dots are 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
    • also known as the Apulian Plate
    • also known as Hellenic Plate
    • Anatolian Plate
    • Azores Microplate
    • Banda Sea Plate
    • Hreppar Microplate – A small plate in southern Iceland, between the Eurasian and North American Plates.
    • 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
    • also known as Philippine Microplate
  • Scotia Plate
    • South Sandwich Plate
  • Somali Plate
    • Madagascar Plate
  • South American Plate
    • Altiplano Plate
    • Falklands Microplate
    • North Andes Plate (mostly in Colombia, with smaller parts in Ecuador and Venezuela)

Ancient Tectonic Plates

Over Earth's long history, many tectonic plates have formed and then disappeared. They might have joined with other plates to make bigger ones, split into smaller pieces, or been pushed under other plates.

Below is a list of ancient cratons, microplates, and terranes that no longer exist as separate plates. Cratons are very old and strong parts of continents. Shields are parts of cratons that are exposed at the surface. Terranes are pieces of crust that broke off one plate and attached to another.

African Plate

Antarctic Plate

  • Bellingshausen Plate
  • Charcot Plate
  • 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
  • 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

Ausgeolbasic
Basic geological regions of Australia, by age.
India Geology Zones
A map showing different geological areas of India.

North American Plate

North america basement rocks
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, Nazca, and Rivera Plates)
  • Florida Plate (United States)
  • Hearne Craton (Canada)
  • Laurentian 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

See also

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List of tectonic plates Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.