The list of tectonic plates consists proved and proposed tectonic plates of the Earth. Plates which do not longer exist are not listed.
| Name | Area in steradiant[1] |
Position |
|---|---|---|
| African Plate[2] (Nubian plate) (also Africa Plate) |
1.44065 | Continent of Africa west of the East African Rift Valley |
| Aegean Sea Plate[3] | 0.00793 | Peloponnes, Aegean islands, west coast of Anatolia |
| Altiplano Plate[4] | 0.02050 | southern Peru, Bolivia, northern Chile |
| Amur Plate[5] | 0.13066 | southeastern Russia east of Lake Baykal, Manjuria, Korea, western main islands of Japan |
| Anatolian Plate[3] (also Anatolia Plate) |
0.01418 | Anatolia except north and west coast, northern Cyprus |
| Antarctic Plate[2] | 1.43268 | Antarctica, southern Pacific Ocean, most of the Southern Ocean |
| Arabic Plate[2] | 0.12082 | Orient south of Taurus and Zagros mountains, Arabian peninsula |
| Australian Plate[2] (also Australia Plate) |
1.13294 | Australia, parts of New Zealand, southern half of New Guinea, southern Indian Ocean as far as west of Sumatra |
| Balmoral Reef Plate[1] | 0.00481 | northern part of Fiji |
| Banda Sea Plate[6] | 0.01715 | southern half of Sulawesi, Banda Sea, Ambon (Indonesia) |
| Bird's Head Plate[1] | 0.01295 | Vogelkop peninsula, Halmahera (Indonesia) |
| Burma Plate[7] | 0.01270 | Andaman Islands, Nicobar Islands, northern tip of Sumatra |
| Caribbean Plate[8] | 0.07304 | Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Antilles except for Cuba |
| Caroline Plate[9] | 0.03765 | Palau, western Carolines (Micronesia) |
| Cocos Plate[2] | 0.07223 | Pacific Ocean offshore Mesoamerica |
| Conway Reef Plate[1] | 0.00356 | southern part of Fiji |
| Easter Island Plate[10] | 0.00411 | Pacific Ocean west of Easter Island |
| Eurasian Plate[2] (also Eurasia Plate) |
1.19630 | nearly all of Eurasia, except for Anatolia, the Orient, the Arabian peninsula, India, South East Asia and eastern Siberia |
| Futuna Plate[1] | 0.00079 | Pacific Ocean around Wallis and Futuna |
| Galapagos Plate[11] | 0.00036 | Pacific Ocean around the Galápagos archipelago |
| Indian Plate[2] (also India Plate) |
0.30637 | India, Sri Lanka, northern Indian Ocean |
| Juan de Fuca Plate[12] | 0.00632 | Pacific Ocean offshore Oregon, Washington state and British Columbia |
| Juan Fernandez Plate[13] | 0.00241 | Pacific Ocean south of Easter Island |
| Kermadec Plate[1] | 0.01245 | eastern half of North Island (New Zealand), Kermadec Islands |
| Manus Plate[14] | 0.00020 | Pacific Ocean south of Lavongai (Papua New Guinea) |
| Maoke Plate[1] | 0.00284 | northwestern part of New Guinea without the Vogelkop peninsula |
| Mariana Plate[1] | 0.01037 | Mariana islands (western Pacific Ocean) |
| Molucca Sea Plate[6] | 0.01030 | northern half of Sulawesi, Buru, Molucca Sea (Indonesia) |
| Nazca Plate[2] | 0.39669 | Pacific Ocean between Easter Island and South America |
| New Hebrides Plate[1] | 0.01585 | New Hebrides (western Pacific Ocean) |
| Niuafo'ou Plate[15] | 0.00306 | Pacific Ocean northwest of Tonga |
| North American Plate[2] (also North America Plate) |
1.36559 | North America including Mexico and Guatemala, northeastern Siberia, Cuba, western Iceland |
| North Andes Plate[16] | 0.02394 | Columbia, Ecuador |
| North Bismarck Plate[17] | 0.00956 | Bismarck archipelago except for New Britain |
| Okhotsk Plate[18] | 0.07482 | Kamchatka, Sakhalin, Kuril Islands, northern main islands of Japan |
| Okinawa Plate[1] | 0.00802 | Ryukyu Islands, northern tip of Formosa |
| Panama Plate[19] | 0.00674 | Panama, Costa Rica |
| Pacific Plate[1] | 2.57685 | Pacific Ocean west of Easter Island, except for the western edges |
| Philippine Sea Plate[9] | 0.13409 | Philippine Sea |
| Rivera Plate[20] | 0.00249 | Pacific Ocean offshore Jalisco (Mexico) |
| Salomon Sea Plate[1] | 0.00317 | Salomon Sea (western Pacific Ocean) |
| Sandwich Plate[21] | 0.00454 | Southern Ocean west of the South Sandwich Islands |
| Scotia Plate[21] | 0.04190 | Southern Ocean from Drake Passage to west of the South Sandwich Islands |
| Shetland Plate[1] (hypothetic) |
0.00178 | South Shetland Islands (Southern Ocean) |
| Somalia Plate[22] | 0.47192 | Africa east of the East African Rift Valley, Madagascar, western Indian Ocean |
| South American Plate[2] (also South America Plate) |
1.03045 | South America except for Columbia, Ecuador, southern Peru, Bolivia, northern Chile |
| South Bismarck Plate[23] | 0.00762 | New Britain, coast of New Guinea west of New Britain |
| Sunda Plate[6] | 0.21967 | Sumatra, Borneo, Java, Bali, Sumbawa, South East Asia |
| Timor Plate[1] | 0.00870 | Flores, Sumba, Timor islands |
| Tonga Plate[15] | 0.00625 | Tonga |
| Woodlark Plate[17] | 0.01116 | central part of New Guinea |
| Yangtze Plate[5] | 0.05425 | southeastern China |
Map of the tectonic plates after Bird 2003[1]. Arrows mark the direction of movement of the plates and their velocity in millimeters per year relative to the African Plate.
Other plates[]
- The southern tip of the Juan de Fuca Plate is often considered a separate plate, called Gorda Plate. The northern tip of the Juan de Fuca Plate is sometimes considered to be the separate Explorer Plate.[24][25]
- A part of the Eurasian Plate is named Apulian Plate, a part of which is sometimes again separated as Adriatic Plate.[26] The Adriatic Plate consists of northeastern Italy, the northern Adriatic Sea and parts of the (main) Alps and the Dinaric Alps. The Apulian Plate also includes southern Italy, the southern Adriatic and parts of Sicily Island.
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 P. Bird (2003): An updated digital model of plate boundaries. in: Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 4, Nr. 3, 2001GC000252. PDF (13 MB!)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 C. DeMets, R. G. Gordon, D. F. Argus und S. Stein (1994) Effect of recent revisions to the geomagnetic reversal time scale on estimate of current plate motions. in: Geophysical Research Letters 21, Seiten 2191–4.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 S. McClusky, S. et al. (2000) Global Positioning System constraints on plate kinematics and dynamics in the eastern Mediterranean and Caucasus. in: Journal of Geophysical Research 105, Seiten 5695–719.
- ↑ S. Lamb (2000) Active deformation in the Bolivian Andes, South America. in: Journal of Geophysical Research 105, Seiten 25.627–53.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 K. Heki, S. Miyazaki, H. Takahashi, M. Kasahara, F. Kimata, S. Miura, N. F. Vasilenko, A. Ivaschenko und K.-D. An (1999) The Amurian plate motion and current plate kinematics in eastern Asia. in: Journal of Geophysical Research 104, Seiten 29.147–55.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 C. Rangin, X. Le Pichon, S. Mazzotti, M. Pubellier, N. Chamot-Rooke, M. Aurelio, A. Walpersdorf und R. Quebral (1999) Plate convergence measured by GPS across the Sundaland/Philippine Sea plate deformed boundary: The Philippines and eastern Indonesia. in: Geophysical Journal International 139, Seiten 296–316.
- ↑ M. T. Halbouty et al. (Hrsg.) (1986) Circum-Pacific Map Project: Plate-Tectonic Map of the Circum-Pacific Region. 5 sheets at 1:10,000,000 and 1 sheet at 1:20,000,000. American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Tulsa.
- ↑ J. C. Weber, T. H. Dixon, C. DeMets, W. B. Ambeh, P. Jansma, G. Mattioli, J. Saleh, G. Sella, R. Bilham und O. Perez (2001) GPS estimate of relative motion between the Caribbean and South American plates, and geologic implications for Trinidad and Venezuela. in Geology 29, Seiten 75–8.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 T. Seno, S. Stein und A. E. Gripp (1993) A model for the motion of the Philippine Sea plate consistent with NUVEL-1 and geological data. in: Journal of Geophysical Research 98, Seiten 17.941–8.
- ↑ J. F. Engeln und S. Stein (1984) Tectonics of the Easter plate. in: Earth and Planetary Science Letters 68, Seiten 259–70.
- ↑ P. Lonsdale (1988) Structural pattern of the Galapagos microplate and evolution of the Galapagos triple junctions. in: Journal of Geophysical Research 93, Seiten 13.551–74.
- ↑ D. S. Wilson (1988) Tectonic history of the Juan de Fuca Ridge over the last 40 million years. in: Journal of Geophysical Research 93, Seiten 11.863–76.
- ↑ S. Anderson-Fontana, J. F. Engeln, P. Lundgren, R. L. Larson und S. Stein (1986) Tectonics and evolution of the Juan Fernandez microplate at the Pacific-Nazca-Antarctic plate junction. in: Journal of Geophysical Research 91, Seiten 2005–18.
- ↑ F. Martinez und B. Taylor (1996) Fast backarc spreading, rifting, and microplate rotation, between transform faults in the Manus Basin, Bismarck Sea. in: Marine Geophysical Researches 18, 203–24.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 K. E. Zellmer und B. Taylor (2001) A three-plate kinematic model for Lau Basin opening. in: Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 2, 2000GC000106.
- ↑ R. Trenkamp, J. N. Kellogg und J. T. Freymueller (1996) Transect of Nazca-South America plate boundary in Ecuador and Columbia: 8 years of CASA GPS results (abstract). in: Eos Trans. AGU, 77 (46), Fall Meeting Supplement, F142.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 P. Tregoning et al. (1998) Estimation of current plate motions in Papua New Guinea from Global Positioning System observations. in: Journal of Geophysical Research 103, Seiten 12.181–203.
- ↑ D. B. Cook, K. Fujita und C. A. McMullen (1986) Present-day plate interactions in northeast Asia; North America, Eurasian, and Okhotsk plates. in: Journal of Geodynamics 6, Seiten 33–51.
- ↑ J. N. Kellogg, V. Vega, T. C. Stallings und C. L. V. Aiken (1995) Tectonic development of Panama, Costa Rica, and the Columbian Andes: Constraints from Global Positioning System geodetic studies and gravity. in: P. Mann (Hrsg.) Geologic and Tectonic Development of the Caribbean Plate Boundary in Southern Central America. Geological Society of America Special Paper 295, Seiten 75–86.
- ↑ C. DeMets und S. Traylen (2000) Motion of the Rivera plate since 10 Ma relative to the Pacific and North American plates and the mantle. in: Tectonophyics 318, Seiten 119–59.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 A. M. Pelayo und D. A. Wiens (1989) Seismotectonics and relative plate motions in the Scotia Sea region. in: Journal of Geophysical Research 94, Seiten 7293–320.
- ↑ D. Chu und R. G. Gordon (1999) Evidence for motion between Nubia and Somalia along the Southwest Indian ridge. in: Nature 398, Seiten 64–7.
- ↑ P. Tregoning, R. J. Jackson, H. McQueen, K. Lambeck, C. Stevens, R. P. Little, R. Curley und R. Rosa (1999) Motion of the South Bismarck plate, Papua New Guinea. in: Geophysical Research Letters 26, Seiten 3517–20.
- ↑ USGS
- ↑ University of Washington
- ↑ University of Lausanne