- List of tectonic plates
This is a list of tectonic plates on Earth.
Tectonic plate s are pieces of the Earth's crust and uppermost mantle, together referred to as thelithosphere . The plates are around 100 km (60 miles) thick and consist of two principal types of material:oceanic crust (also called "sima" fromsilicon andmagnesium ) andcontinental crust ("sial " from silicon andaluminium ). The composition of the two types of crust differs markedly, with basaltic rocks ("mafic ") dominating oceanic crust, while continental crust consists principally of lowerdensity granitic rocks ("felsic ").The surface of the Earth consists of 15 major plates and 41 minor ones 11 Ancient plates and 3 plates within orogens, for a total of 70 plates.
Current plates
Major plates
*
African Plate
*Antarctic Plate
*Arabian Plate
*Australian Plate
*Caribbean Plate
*Cocos Plate
*Eurasian Plate
*Indian Plate
*Juan de Fuca Plate
*Nazca Plate
*North American Plate
*Pacific Plate
*Philippine Plate
*Scotia Plate
*South American Plate Minor plates
*
Aegean Sea Plate
*Altiplano Plate
*Amurian Plate
*Anatolian Plate
*Balmoral Reef Plate
*Banda Sea Plate
*Bird's Head Plate
*Burma Plate
*Caroline Plate
*Conway Reef Plate
*Easter Plate
*Futuna Plate
* Galapagos Plate
*Hellenic Plate
*Iranian Plate
*Jan Mayen Plate
*Juan Fernandez Plate
*Kermadec Plate
*Kula Plate
*Manus Plate
*Maoke Plate
*Mariana Plate
*Molucca Sea Plate
*New Hebrides Plate
*Niuafo'ou Plate
*North Andes Plate
*North Bismarck Plate
*Okhotsk Plate
*Okinawa Plate
*Panama Plate
*Rivera Plate
*Sandwich Plate
*Shetland Plate
*Solomon Sea Plate
*Somali Plate
*South Bismarck Plate
*Sunda Plate
*Timor Plate
*Tonga Plate
*Woodlark Plate
*Yangtze Plate Plates within orogens
Some models identify more minor plates within current orogens.
*Apulian Plate
*Explorer Plate
*Gorda Plate Ancient plates
*
Baltic Plate
*Bellingshausen Plate
*Charcot Plate
*Cimmerian Plate
*Farallon Plate
*Insular Plate
*Intermontane Plate
*Izanagi Plate
*Lhasa Plate
*Moa Plate
*Phoenix Plate References
*Bird, P. (2003) [http://element.ess.ucla.edu/publications/2003_PB2002/2003_PB2002.htm "An updated digital model of plate boundaries"] also available as a [http://element.ess.ucla.edu/publications/2003_PB2002/2001GC000252.pdf large (13
Mib ) PDF file]
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