This is a list of tectonic plates on the 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. See also Plate tectonics.
Geologists generally agree that the following tectonic plates currently exist on the 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/main plates
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.
Pacific Plate – 103,300,000 km2
North American Plate – 75,900,000 km2
Eurasian Plate – 67,800,000 km2
African Plate – 61,300,000 km2
Antarctic Plate – 60,900,000 km2
Indo-Australian Plate – 58,900,000 km2 often considered two plates:
Australian Plate – 47,000,000 km2
Indian Plate – 11,900,000 km2
South American Plate – 43,600,000 km2
These smaller plates are often not shown on major plate maps, as the majority 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.
Somali Plate – 16,700,000 km2
Nazca Plate – 15,600,000 km2
Philippine Sea Plate – 5,500,000 km2
Arabian Plate – 5,000,000 km2
Caribbean Plate – 3,300,000 km2
Cocos Plate – 2,900,000 km2
Caroline Plate – 1,700,000 km2
Scotia Plate – 1,600,000 km2
Burma Plate – 1,100,000 km2
New Hebrides Plate – 1,100,000 km2
These plates are often grouped with an adjacent major plate on a major plate 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 like the Apulian, Explorer, Gorda, and Philippine Mobile Belt plates. There may or may not be scientific consensus as to whether such plates should be considered distinct portions of the crust, thus new research could change this list.
African Plate
Lwandle Plate
Madagascar Plate
Rovuma Plate
Seychelles microcontinent
Antarctic Plate
Shetland Plate
South Sandwich Plate
Caribbean Plate
Panama Plate
Gonâve Microplate
Cocos Plate
Rivera Plate
Eurasian Plate
Adriatic Plate (or Apulian Plate)
Aegean Sea Plate (or Hellenic Plate)
Amurian Plate
Anatolian Plate
Banda Sea Plate
Iberian Plate
Iranian Plate
Molucca Sea Plate
Halmahera Plate
Sangihe Plate
Okinawa Plate
Pelso Plate
Sunda Plate
Timor Plate
Tisza Plate
Yangtze Plate
Australian Plate
Capricorn Plate
Futuna Plate
Kermadec Plate
Maoke Plate
Niuafo'ou Plate
Tonga Plate
Woodlark Plate
North American Plate
Greenland Plate
Okhotsk Plate
Juan de Fuca Plate
Explorer Plate
Gorda Plate
Pacific Plate
Balmoral Reef Plate
Bird's Head Plate
Caroline Plate
Conway Reef Plate
Easter Plate
Galapagos Microplate
Juan Fernandez Plate
Kula Plate
Manus Plate
New Hebrides Plate
North Bismarck Plate
North Galápagos Microplate
Solomon Sea Plate
South Bismarck Plate
Philippine Sea Plate
Mariana Plate
Philippine Microplate
South American Plate
Altiplano Plate
Falklands Microplate
North Andes Plate
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 (or have done all three).
A supercontinent is a landmass consisting of multiple continental cores. The following list includes the supercontinents known or speculated to have existed in the Earth's past:
Columbia
Euramerica
Gondwana
Kenorland
Laurasia
Nena
Pangaea
Pannotia
Proto-Laurasia
Rodinia
Ur
Vaalbara
Ancient plates and cratons
Not all plate boundaries are easily defined, this is especially true for ancient pieces of crust. The following list of ancient cratons, microplates, plates, shields, terranes, and zones no longer exist as separate plates. Cratons are the oldest and most stable parts of the continental lithosphere and shields are the exposed area of a craton(s). Microplates are tiny tectonic plates, terranes are fragments of crustal material formed on one tectonic plate and accreted to crust lying on another plate, and zones are bands of similar rocks on a plate formed by terrane accretion or native rock formation. Terranes may or may not have originated as independent microplates since a terrane may not contain the full thickness of the lithosphere.
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)
Tanzanian 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)
Bellingshausen Plate
Charcot Plate
East Antarctic Craton
Phoenix Plate
Armorica (France, Germany, Spain and Portugal)
Avalonia (Canada, Great Britain, and United States)
Baltic Plate (Russia)
Belomorian Craton
Central Iberian Plate (Spain)
Cimmerian Plate (Anatolia, Iran, Afghanistan, Tibet, Indochina and Malaya)
East China Craton (China)
East European Craton (Russia and Scandinavia)
Fennoscandian Shield (Norway, Sweden, and Finland)
Junggar Plate (China)
Hunic plate
Karelian Craton (Finland and Russia)
Kazakhstania (Kazakhstan)
Kola Craton (northwest Russia)
Lhasa terrane
Massif Central
Moldanubian Plate (Austria)
Moravo Silesian Plate (Czech Republic)
Midland Craton (Great Britain)
North Atlantic Craton
North China Craton (China and Korea)
Ossa-Morena Plate (Spain)
Piemont-Liguria Plate
Proto-Alps Terrane (Austria)
Rhenohercynian Plate
Sarmatian Craton (Ukraine)
Sarmatian Craton
Saxothuringian Plate
Siberian Craton (Russia)
South Portuguese Plate (Portugal)
Tarim Craton (China)
Teplá-Barrandian Terrane (Czech Republic)
Ukrainian Shield (Ukraine)
Valais Plate
Volgo-Uralian Craton, (Russia)
Yakutai Craton, eastern (Russia)
Yangtze Craton (China)
Altjawarra Craton (Australia)
Bhandara Craton, (India)
Bundelkhand Craton, (India)
Dharwar Craton, (India)
Central Craton (Australia)
Curnamona Craton (Australia)
Gawler Craton (Australia)
Indian Craton (India)
Narooma Terrane (Australia)
Pilbara Craton (Australia)
Singhbhum Craton (India)
Yilgarn Craton (Australia)
Western Australian Shield (Australia)
Zealandia, see Moa Plate and Lord Howe Rise (New Zealand)
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 (Canada and United States)
Insular Plate
Intermontane Plate
Izanagi Plate
Mexican Plate (Mexico)
Nain province (Canada)
Newfoundland Plate (Canada)
Nova Scotia Plate
Rae Craton (Canada)
Sask Craton (Canada)
Sclavia Craton (Canada)
Slave Craton (Canada)
Superior Craton (Canada)
Wyoming Craton (United States)
Amazonian craton (Brazil)
Guiana Shield (Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela)
Rio Apas craton (Brazil, Paraguay)
Río de la Plata craton (Argentina and Uruguay)
São Francisco craton (Brazil)
Arequipa–Antofalla craton (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Peru)
