This is a list of tectonic plates on 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.
7-654: The New Hebrides plate , sometimes called the Neo-Hebridean plate , is a minor tectonic plate (just larger than a microplate ) located in the Pacific Ocean . While most of it is submerged as the sea bottom of the North Fiji Basin , the island country of Vanuatu , with multiple arc volcanoes , is on the western edge of the plate. It is bounded on the south-west by the Australian plate , which
14-465: A tectonic plate world map. For purposes of this list, a microplate is any plate with an area less than 1 million km . Some models identify more minor plates within current orogens (events that lead to a large structural deformation of Earth's lithosphere ) like the Apulian, Explorer, Gorda, and Philippine Mobile Belt plates. The latest studies have shown that microplates are the basic elements of which
21-732: Is subducting below it at the New Hebrides Trench . The Vanuatu subduction zone is seismically active, producing many earthquakes of magnitude 7 or higher. To its north is the Pacific plate , north-east the Balmoral Reef plate and to its east the Conway Reef plate . At its south, convergence is being accommodated by rifting in the western stretch of the New Hebrides Trench, and transform faulting in
28-418: Is a list of ancient cratons , microplates , plates , and terranes which no longer exist as separate plates. Cratons are the oldest and most stable parts of the continental lithosphere, and shields are exposed parts of them. Terranes are fragments of crustal material formed on one tectonic plate and accreted to crust lying on another plate, which may or may not have originated as independent microplates:
35-823: The Hunter Ridge north of this stretch of the trench. The transform faulting is more established in the Hunter Fracture Zone which continues as the southern border of the Conway Reef plate towards Fiji . The region is complex and may well have several other microplates or blocks . List of tectonic plates#Minor plates Geologists generally agree that the following tectonic plates currently exist on 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 ). These plates comprise
42-602: 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 km (7.7 million sq mi) These smaller plates are often not shown on major plate maps, as the majority of them do not comprise significant land area. For purposes of this list, a minor plate is any plate with an area less than 20 million km (7.7 million sq mi) but greater than 1 million km (0.39 million sq mi). These plates are often grouped with an adjacent principal plate on
49-420: The crust is composed and that the larger plates are composed of amalgamations of these, and a subdivision of ca. 1200 smaller plates has come forward. 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. The following
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