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Tectonic Plates
Tectonic Plates
Earth's rigid outer shell is broken into plates that drift a few centimeters a year. Textbooks usually name 7 major ones. The map uses the more detailed PB2002 model by geophysicist Peter Bird, which counts 52. It splits the Indo-Australian Plate in two, so 8 major plates cover 83% of the globe. The rest are medium plates and microplates squeezed between them.
- Plates in the PB2002 model
- 52
- Major plates
- 8 (83% of the surface)
- Medium plates
- 12
- Microplates
- 32
- Total length of boundaries
- 260,800 km
- Fastest boundary
- 263 mm a year (Tonga Plate and Pacific Plate)
The 8 Major Plates
- 20.5 % Pacific Plate · 105 M km² of the surface
- 11.5 % African Plate · 58 M km² of the surface
- 11.4 % Antarctic Plate · 58 M km² of the surface
- 10.9 % North American Plate · 55 M km² of the surface
- 9.5 % Eurasian Plate · 49 M km² of the surface
- 9 % Australian Plate · 46 M km² of the surface
- 8.2 % South American Plate · 42 M km² of the surface
- 2.4 % Indian Plate · 12 M km² of the surface
Three Kinds of Plate Boundaries
- Divergent · 94,800 km
- Plates pull apart and magma rises between them, mostly along mid-ocean ridges on the seafloor.
- Convergent · 91,900 km
- Plates push together. One dives under the other (subduction) or both crumple into mountains. This is where the largest earthquakes and most explosive volcanoes come from.
- Transform · 74,100 km
- Plates slide past each other sideways, like the San Andreas Fault in California.
All 52 Plates, Largest to Smallest
- 20.5 % Pacific Plate · 104,592,372 km² 72.6 mm/yr
- 11.5 % African Plate · 58,474,929 km² 18.2 mm/yr
- 11.4 % Antarctic Plate · 58,152,559 km² 46.4 mm/yr
- 10.9 % North American Plate · 55,433,250 km² 27.9 mm/yr
- 9.5 % Eurasian Plate · 48,558,157 km² 19.8 mm/yr
- 9 % Australian Plate · 45,984,232 km² 48.7 mm/yr
- 8.2 % South American Plate · 41,824,728 km² 29.3 mm/yr
- 3.8 % Somali Plate · 19,154,621 km² 16 mm/yr
- 3.2 % Nazca Plate · 16,101,100 km² 79.2 mm/yr
- 2.4 % Indian Plate · 12,434,886 km² 27.8 mm/yr
- 1.7 % Sunda Plate · 8,916,133 km² 52.3 mm/yr
- 1.1 % Philippine Sea Plate · 5,443,770 km² 60.2 mm/yr
- 1 % Amur Plate · 5,303,368 km² 11.8 mm/yr
- 1 % Arabian Plate · 4,904,136 km² 21.3 mm/yr
- 0.6 % Okhotsk Plate · 3,037,135 km² 32.5 mm/yr
- 0.6 % Caribbean Plate · 2,964,708 km² 19.4 mm/yr
- 0.6 % Cocos Plate · 2,931,784 km² 69.9 mm/yr
- 0.4 % Yangtze Plate · 2,201,905 km² 21.5 mm/yr
- 0.3 % Scotia Plate · 1,700,698 km² 15.6 mm/yr
- 0.3 % Caroline Plate · 1,528,186 km² 16.4 mm/yr
- 0.2 % North Andes Plate · 971,794 km² 21.8 mm/yr
- 0.2 % Altiplano Plate · 832,154 km² 25.5 mm/yr
- 0.1 % Banda Sea Plate · 695,909 km² 34.1 mm/yr
- 0.1 % New Hebrides Plate · 643,471 km² 74.5 mm/yr
- 0.1 % Anatolian Plate · 575,615 km² 18.8 mm/yr
- 0.1 % Bird's Head Plate · 525,648 km² 64.1 mm/yr
- 0.1 % Burma Plate · 515,365 km² 34.2 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % Kermadec Plate · 505,360 km² 52.2 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % Woodlark Plate · 453,071 km² 31.3 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % Mariana Plate · 420,773 km² 48 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % Molucca Sea Plate · 418,102 km² 39.4 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % North Bismarck Plate · 388,136 km² 56.9 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % Timor Plate · 353,276 km² 27.1 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % Okinawa Plate · 324,728 km² 63.4 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % Aegean Sea Plate · 321,892 km² 29.2 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % South Bismarck Plate · 309,087 km² 98 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % Panama Plate · 273,735 km² 30.1 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % Juan de Fuca Plate · 256,344 km² 49.2 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % Tonga Plate · 253,617 km² 114.5 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % Balmoral Reef Plate · 195,387 km² 34.6 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % Sandwich Plate · 184,411 km² 73.3 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % Easter Plate · 166,979 km² 72 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % Conway Reef Plate · 144,452 km² 50.2 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % Solomon Sea Plate · 128,671 km² 58.8 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % Niuafo'ou Plate · 124,280 km² 85 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % Maoke Plate · 115,306 km² 38.9 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % Rivera Plate · 100,895 km² 46.4 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % Juan Fernández Plate · 97,681 km² 87.9 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % Shetland Plate · 72,215 km² 9.9 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % Futuna Plate · 32,024 km² 52.9 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % Galápagos Plate · 14,625 km² 54.2 mm/yr
- < 0.1 % Manus Plate · 8,219 km² 64.6 mm/yr
Explore Further
Sources: Bird, P. (2003), An updated digital model of plate boundaries, Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, PB2002 model · Live Atlas calculations