Names of Plates ***= Major Plates **= Minor *= Micro/Tiny

*South Sandwich Plate (Sandwich Plate)

A minor tectonic plate bounded by the sub-ducting South American Plate to the east, the Antarctic Plate to the south and the Scotia Plate to the west.. The South Sandwich Islands are located on this small plate. -----------------------Touches to the-------------- E: SA Plate S: Antarctic Plate W: Scotia Plate --------------------------------------------------- 170,000 km2

*Juan Fernandez Plate

A small tectonic plate located at the triple junction between the Nazca Plate, Antarctic Plate and the Pacific Plate. It is moving in a clockwise direction. -----------------------Touches to the-------------- N: Near the Easter Plate E: Nazca Plate W: Pacific Plate ---------------------------------------------------

**Scotia Plate

A tectonic plate on the edge of the South Atlantic and Southern Ocean. Minor plate whose movement is largely controlled by the two major plates that surround it: the South American plate and Antarctic plate. -----------------------Touches to the-------------- N: SA Plate S: Antarctic Plate --------------------------------------------------- 1,600,000 km2

Micro Plates of the 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

Micro Plates of the South American Plate

Altiplano Plate Falklands Microplate North Andes Plate

**Cocos Plate

An oceanic tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Central America, named for Cocos Island, which rides upon it. -----------------------Touches to the-------------- N: NA Plate E: Caribbean Plate S: Nazca Plate W: Pacific Plate --------------------------------------------------- 2,900,000 km2

**Nazca Plate

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 -----------------------Touches to the-------------- N: Cocos Plate E: SA Platw S: Antarctic Plate W: Easter Plate, Juan Fernandez Plate, Pacific Plate --------------------------------------------------- 15,600,000 km2

**Caribbean Plate

An oceanic tectonic plate underlying Central America and the Caribbean Sea off the north coast of South America. These borders are regions of intense seismic activity, including frequent earthquakes, occasional tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. -----------------------Touches to the-------------- N: NA Plate E: NA/SA Plate Border S: SA Plate W: Cocos Island --------------------------------------------------- 3,300,000 km2

Micro Plates of the 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

Micro Plates of the Australian Plate

Capricorn Plate Futuna Plate Kermadec Plate Maoke Plate Niuafo'ou Plate Tonga Plate Woodlark Plate

***Pacific Plate

Contains all of Pacific Ocean (Hawaii) -----------------Touches to the-------------------- N: North American Plate, Juan de Fuca Plate (NE) E:Cocos Plate, Easter Plate, Juan Fernandez Plate and the Nazca Plate S: Antarctic Plate W: Filippino Plate, Australian Plate --------------------------------------------------- 103,300,000 km2

***Antarctic Plate

Contains the continent of Antarctica and extending outward under the surrounding oceans. The Antarctic Plate is bounded almost entirely by extensional mid-ocean ridge systems. -----------------------Touches to the-------------- N: Scotia Plate, SA Plate, African Plate, Austrialian Plate, Nazca Plate, Pacific Plate --------------------------------------------------- 60,900,000 km2

***North American Plate

Covers most of North America + Greenland, Cuba + Bahamas + northeastern Russia + parts of Iceland + the Azores. Extends eastward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (Which also borders the SA plate) & westward to the Chersky Range in eastern Siberia. -----------------------Touches to the-------------- E: Pacific Plate, Juan De Fuca Plate S: Cocos Plate, Caribbean Plate, South American Plate W: Eurasian Plate, African Plate --------------------------------------------------- 75,900,000 km2

Micro Plates of the North American Plate

Greenland Plate Okhotsk Plate Juan de Fuca Plate Explorer Plate Gorda Plate

***Eurasian Plate

Includes most of the continent of Eurasia, oceanic crust extending westward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and northward to the Gakkel Ridge NOTABLE-EXCEPTIONS: Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent, and the area east of the Chersky Range in East Siberia. -----------------------Touches to the-------------- E: NA Plate, Filipino Plate S: African, Arabian, Indian, Australian W: NA Plate --------------------------------------------------- 67,800,000 km2

***South American Plate

Includes the continent of South America and also a sizeable region of the Atlantic Ocean seabed and extends eastward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. -----------------------Touches to the-------------- N: NA Plate, Caribbean Plate E: African Plate S: Scotia Plate, Antarctic Plate W: Nazca Plate --------------------------------------------------- 43,600,000 km2

*Amurian Plate (Amur Plate;China Plate)

Includes: Manchuria, Korean Peninsula, Western Japan, and Primorsky Krai. Once thought to be a part of the Eurasian Plate, the Amur Plate is now generally considered to be a separate plate moving southeast with respect to the Eurasian Plate. The Baikal Rift Zone is considered a boundary between the Amurian Plate and the Eurasian Plate -----------------------Touches to the-------------- N: Eurasian Plate E: Okhotsk Plate W: Eurasian Plate SE: Philippine Sea Plate ---------------------------------------------------

*Okhotsk Plate

Includes: Sea of Okhotsk, the Kamchatka Peninsula, Sakhalin Island and Tōhoku and Hokkaidō in Japan. Formerly considered a part of the North American Plate: recent studies indicate that it is an independent plate. The boundary between Okhotsk Plate and Amurian Plate might be responsible for many strong earthquakes that occurred in the Sea of Japan as well as in the Sakhalin island -----------------------Touches to the-------------- N: NA PLate S: Philippine Sea Plate W: Eurasian Plate Possibly SE: Amurian Plate ---------------------------------------------------

***Indian Plate

Includes: most of South Asia—i.e. the Indian subcontinent—and a portion of the basin under the Indian Ocean, parts of South China and Eastern Indonesia, Doesn't include: Ladakh, Kohistan and Balochistan Straddles the equator in the eastern hemisphere. Once fused with the adjacent Australia to form a single Indo-Australian Plate, India and Australia have been separate plates for at least 3 million years/longer. -----------------------Touches to the-------------- N: Eurasia E: Eurasia S: Austrialian Plate W: Arabian, African --------------------------------------------------- 11,900,000 km2

**Philippine Plate (Philippine Sea Plate)

Includes: oceanic lithosphere lying beneath Philippine Sea east of the Philippines. Most segments of the Philippines, northern Luzon, ----part of the Philippine Mobile Belt, which is geologically and tectonically separate from the Philippine Sea Plate. -----------------------Touches to the-------------- N: Tiny portion of NA Plate E: Eurasia Plate W: Pacific Plate --------------------------------------------------- 5,500,000 km2

**Burma Plate

Located: in Southeast Asia, sometimes considered a part of the larger Eurasian Plate. INCLUDES: The Andaman Islands, Nicobar Islands, and northwestern Sumatra are located on the plate. This island arc separates the Andaman Sea from the main Indian Ocean to the west. -----------------------Touches to the-------------- N: Eurasian S: Australian W: Indian --------------------------------------------------- 1,100,000 km2

**New Hebrides Plate

Located: in the Pacific Ocean near the island nation of Vanuatu. The plate is bounded on the southwest by the Indo-Australian Plate which is subducting below it. The New Hebrides Subduction Zone is extremely active, producing over 20 earthquakes of magnitude 7 or higher in just the past 25 years. -----------------------Touches to the-------------- SW: Indo-Australian Plate --------------------------------------------------- 1,100,000 km2

Micro Plates of the African Plate

Lwandle Plate Madagascar Plate Rovuma Plate Seychelles microcontinent

**Arabian Plate

One of three continental plates (the African, Arabian, and Indian Plates) that have been moving northward in recent geological history and colliding with the Eurasian Plate. -----------------------Touches to the-------------- N: Eurasia Plate E: Indian Plate S: Australian Plate W: African Plate --------------------------------------------------- 5,000,000 km2

Major Plates from largest to smallest

Pacific Plate, North American Plate, Eurasian Plate, African Plate, Antarctic Plate, (Indo- Australian Plate) Australian Plate, Indian Plate, South American Plate

Micro Plates of the Antarctic Plate

Shetland Plate South Sandwich Plate

Minor Plates from Largest to Smallest

Somali Plate, Nazca Plate, Philippine Sea Plate, Arabian Plate, Caribbean Plate, Cocos Plate, Caroline Plate, Scotia Plate, Burma Plate, New Hebrides Plate (last two are same size)

**Caroline Plate

Straddles the Equator in the eastern hemisphere Located: north of New Guinea. It forms a subduction zone along the border with the Bird's Head Plate and the Woodlark Plate to the south. A transform boundary forms the northern border with the Pacific Plate. Along the border with the Philippine Sea Plate is a convergent boundary that transitions into a rift. -----------------------Touches to the-------------- N: (North of New Zealand) E: Pacific Plate S: Australian Plate W: Philippine Sea Plate --------------------------------------------------- 1,700,000 km2

***African Plate

Straddles 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. Some literature refers to the African Plate as the Nubian Plate to distinguish it from the continent as a whole. -----------------------Touches to the-------------- N: Eurasia Plate E: Arabian Plate, Indian Plate, Austrialian Plate S: Antarctic Plate W: SA Plate --------------------------------------------------- 61,300,000 km2

**Somali Plate

Straddles the equator in the eastern hemisphere. Bounded on the west by the East African Rift -----------------------Touches to the-------------- N: Arabian Plate, NE: Indian Plate E: Australian Plate S: Antarctic Plate W: African Plate --------------------------------------------------- 16,700,000 km2

*Juan de Fuca Plate

Subducting under the northerly portion of the western side of the North American Plate at the Cascadia subduction zone -----------------------Touches to the-------------- N: NA Plate E: NA Plate S: Pacific Plate W: NA Plate, Pacific Plate ---------------------------------------------------

***Australian Plate

The Australian plate includes the continent of Australia, including Tasmania, as well portions of New Guinea, New Zealand, and the Indian Ocean basin. -----------------------Touches to the-------------- N: Indian Plate, Eurasia Plate, Filipino Plate, Pacific Plate E: African Plate S: Antarctic Plate W: Pacific Plate --------------------------------------------------- 47,000,000 km2

*Easter Plate

microplate in the southeastern Pacific. The entire plate is covered by the Pacific Ocean. -----------------------Touches to the-------------- E: Nazca Plate W: Pacific Plate ---------------------------------------------------