Kryshia Mae S.

Calderero

12-Betelgeuse

Seven Major Plates

African Plate

This is a major tectonic plate straddling the equator as well

as the prime meridian. It includes much of the continent of
Africa, as well as oceanic crust which lies between the
continent and various surrounding ocean ridges. Between 60
million years ago and 10 million years ago, the Somali Plate
began rifting from the African Plate along the East African
Rift. Since the continent of Africa consists of crust from both
the African and the Somali plates, some literature refers to
the African Plate as the Nubian Plate to distinguish it from
the continent as a whole.

Antarctic Plate

The Antarctic Plate is a tectonic plate, which

encompasses the continent of Antarctica and further
stretches outward under the surrounding oceans. The
Plate borders the African Plate, the South American
Plate, the Nazca Plate, the Indo-Australian Plate and the
Scotia Plate. Creating the Pacific-Antarctic Bridge, it has
a different border with the Pacific Plate.

Eurasian Plate
The Eurasian Plate is the third largest major plate. It consists of
most of Europe, Russia and parts of Asia. This plate is
sandwiched between the North American and African Plate on
the north and west sides. The west side shares a divergent plate
boundary with the North American plate. The south side of the
Eurasian plate neighbors the Arabian, Indian and Sunda plates.
It straddles along Iceland where it tears the country in two
separate pieces at a rate of 2.5 to 3 cm per year. The Eurasian
Plate also diverges away from the North American plate at a
rate of about 3 centimeters per year. As a whole, the Eurasian
plate moves about one-quarter to half an inch per year on
average. At a size of 67,800,000 km2, it is third largest tectonic
plate on Earth.
 Indo-Australian Plate

The Indo-Australian Plate is a major tectonic plate that

includes the continent of Australia and surrounding ocean,
and extends northwest to include the Indian subcontinent
and adjacent waters. It was formed by the fusion of Indian
and Australian plates approximately 43 million years ago.
The fusion happened when the mid-ocean ridge in the
Indian Ocean, which separated the two plates, ceased
spreading.

North American Plate

The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of

North America, Greenland, Cuba, the Bahamas, extreme
northeastern Asia, and parts of Iceland and the Azores. With an
area of 76 million km2 (29 million sq mi), it is the Earth's second
largest tectonic plate, behind the Pacific Plate (which borders the
plate to the west).It extends eastward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
and westward to the Chersky Range in eastern Siberia. The plate
includes both continental and oceanic crust. The interior of the
main continental landmass includes an extensive granitic core
called a craton. Along most of the edges of this craton are
fragments of crustal material called terranes, which are accreted
to the craton by tectonic actions over a long span of time. It is
thought that much of North America west of the Rocky Mountains
is composed of such terranes.

Pacific Plate

The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies

beneath the Pacific Ocean. At 103 million km2 (40 million sq
mi), it is the largest tectonic plate. The Pacific Plate contains
an interior hot spot forming the Hawaiian Islands. Hillis and
Müller are reported to consider the Bird's Head Plate to be
moving in unison with the Pacific Plate.[4] Bird considers
them to be unconnected.
 South American Plate

South American plate is a relatively large sized plate located

below the continent, South America. South American plate is
bounded by African plate in the east, Nazca plate in the
west, Antarctic plate and Scotia plate in the south, and
Caribbean plate and North American plate in the north.
South American plate is involved in Andes Mountains
formation with Nazca plate, and Mid Atlantic Ridge
formation with African plate.

Largest Minor Plate

Arabian Plate
The Arabian Plate is a tectonic plate in the northern and eastern hemispheres. It is one of three continental plates
(along with the African and Indian Plates) that have been moving northward in recent geological history and colliding
with the Eurasian Plate. This is resulting in a mingling of plate pieces and mountain ranges extending in the west from
the Pyrenees, crossing Southern Europe to Iran, forming the Alborz and Zagros Mountains, to the Himalayas and
ranges of Southeast Asia.

Caribbean Plate
The Caribbean Plate is a mostly oceanic tectonic plate underlying Central America and the Caribbean Sea off the north
coast of South America. Roughly 3.2 million square kilometers (1.2 million square miles) in area, the Caribbean Plate
borders the North American Plate, the South American Plate, the Nazca Plate and the Cocos Plate . These borders are
regions of intense seismic activity, including frequent earthquakes, occasional tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions.

Cocos Plate
The Cocos Plate is a young oceanic tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Central America,
named for Cocos Island, which rides upon it. The Cocos Plate was created approximately 23 million years ago when
the Farallon Plate broke into two pieces, which also created the Nazca Plate. The Cocos Plate also broke into two
pieces, creating the small Rivera Plate. The Cocos Plate is bounded by several different plates. To the northeast it is
bounded by the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate. To the west it is bounded by the Pacific Plate and to
the south by the Nazca Plate.

Juan de Fuca Plate

The Juan de Fuca Plate is a tectonic plate generated from the Juan de Fuca Ridge that is subducting under the
northerly portion of the western side of the North American Plate at the Cascadia subduction zone. It is named after
the explorer of the same name. One of the smallest of Earth's tectonic plates, the Juan de Fuca Plate is a remnant part
of the once-vast Farallon Plate, which is now largely subducted underneath the North American Plate.
 Nazca Plate
The Nazca Plate or Nasca Plate, named after the Nazca region of southern Peru, is an oceanic tectonic plate in the
eastern Pacific Ocean basin off the west coast of South America. The ongoing subduction, along the Peru–Chile
Trench, of the Nazca Plate under the South American Plate is largely responsible for the Andean orogeny. The Nazca
Plate is bounded on the west by the Pacific Plate and to the south by the Antarctic Plate through the East Pacific Rise
and the Chile Rise respectively. The movement of the Nazca Plate over several hotspots has created some volcanic
islands as well as east-west running seamount chains that subduct under South America. Nazca is a relatively young
plate both in terms of the age of its rocks and its existence as an independent plate having been formed from the
break-up of the Farallon Plate about 23 million years ago. The oldest rocks of the plate are about 50 million years old.

Philippine Plate
The Philippine Sea Plate or the Philippine Plate is a tectonic plate comprising oceanic lithosphere that lies beneath the
Philippine Sea, to the east of the Philippines. Most segments of the Philippines, including northern Luzon, are part of
the Philippine Mobile Belt, which is geologically and tectonically separate from the Philippine Sea Plate.

Philippine Sea plate is bordered mostly by convergent boundaries:

To the north, the Philippine Sea Plate meets the Okhotsk Plate at the Nankai Trough. The Philippine Sea Plate, the
Amurian Plate, and the Okhotsk Plate meet at Mount Fuji in Japan. The thickened crust of the Izu-Bonin-Mariana arc
colliding with Japan constitutes the Izu Collision Zone.

The east of the plate includes the Izu-Ogasawara (Bonin) and the Mariana Islands, forming the Izu-Bonin-Mariana Arc
system. There is also a divergent boundary between the Philippine Sea Plate and the small Mariana Plate which
carries the Mariana Islands. To the east, the Pacific Plate subducts beneath the Philippine Sea Plate at the Izu-
Ogasawara Trench.

To the south, the Philippine Sea Plate is bounded by the Caroline Plate and Bird's Head Plate.

To the west, the Philippine Sea Plate subducts under the Philippine Mobile Belt at the Philippine Trench and the East
Luzon Trench. (The adjacent rendition of Prof. Peter Bird's map is inaccurate in this respect.)

To the northwest, the Philippine Sea Plate meets Taiwan and the Nansei islands on the Okinawa Plate, and southern
Japan on the Amurian Plate.

Scotia Plate
The Scotia Plate (Spanish: Placa Scotia) is a tectonic plate on the edge of the South Atlantic and Southern Ocean.
Thought to have formed during the early Eocene with the opening of the Drake Passage that separates South America
from Antarctica, it is a minor plate whose movement is largely controlled by the two major plates that surround it:
the South American Plate and Antarctic Plate.

Roughly rhomboid, extending between 50°S 70°W and 63°S 20°W, the plate is 800 km (500 mi) wide and 3,000 km
(1,900 mi) long. It is moving WSW at 2.2 cm (0.87 in)/year and the South Sandwich Plate is moving east at 5.5 cm (2.2
in)/year in an absolute reference frame.[4] It takes its name from the steam yacht Scotia of the Scottish National
Antarctic Expedition (1902–04), the expedition that made the first bathymetric study of the region.

The Scotia Plate is made of oceanic crust and continental fragments now distributed around the Scotia Sea. Before the
formation of the plate began 40 million years ago (40Ma), these fragments formed a continuous landmass from
Patagonia to the Antarctic Peninsula along an active subduction margin.[4] At present the plate is almost completely
submerged, with only the small exceptions of the South Georgia Islands on its northeastern edge and the southern tip
of South America.