The map at the top of this page shows the geographic location and extent of 15 major lithospheric plates. These plates move and interact with one another, driven by convectional forces within the Earth. At a depth of about 100 miles (160 km), materials in the subducting plate begin to approach their melting tempe… The Indo-Australia plate stretches from Australia to India. Ocean-Ocean Convergent Plate Boundaries Learn that subduction of the older, denser oceanic crust leads to the formation of a volcanic island arc and accompanying earthquakes. This is a list of tectonic plates on Earth's surface. Andrew Alden is a geologist based in Oakland, California. The oceanic plate is forced down into the mantle in a process known as \"subduction.\" As the oceanic plate descends, it is forced into higher temperature environments.
You can opt-out at any time. A map showing some of the world's major and minor tectonic plates. The Gakkel and Southwest Indian ridges are the slowest-spreading ridges, while the East Pacific Rise spreads the fastest, with the sides moving apart up to nearly 20 centimeters a year. This map shows the overall configuration of the ridges and their names. Tectonic Plates.
For more details, see our Privacy Policy. This map originally appeared in the publication "This Dynamic Earth" by the U.S. Geological Survey. He works as a research guide for the U.S. Geological Survey. 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 outermost part of Earth's structure is known as the lithosphere. Convergent (colliding) boundaries are shown as a black line with teeth, divergent (spreading) boundaries as solid red lines, and transform (sliding alongside) boundaries as solid black lines. Their worldwide extent was recognized in the mid-20th century, and shortly afterward the mid-ocean ridges were assigned a starring role in the new theory of plate tectonics. The lithosphere is divided into a number of tectonic plates. There are more ridges whose names don't fit: The Galápagos Ridge runs from the East Pacific Rise to Cntral America, and the northern continuation of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is called Reykjanes Ridge south of Iceland, Mohns Ridge north of Iceland, and Gakkel Ridge in the Arctic Ocean. The lithosphere consists of the crust and small portion of the upper mantle. It also includes the oceanic crust from the Indian Ocean. Learn more in "About Plate Tectonics." Tectonic plates are gigantic segments or pieces of the Earth's crust and uppermost mantle that together constitute the Lithosphere. But they are widely considered to be two separate plates. The crust of our planet is cracked into seven large and many other smaller slabs of rock called plates, averaging about 50 miles thick.

The ridges are the divergent zones where oceanic plates are born, spreading apart from the central valley, or axial trough. Learn About the History and Principles of Plate Tectonics, Map of Tectonic Plates and Their Boundaries, Measuring Plate Motion in Plate Tectonics, The Continental Drift Theory: Revolutionary and Significant, Everything You Need to Know About the Lithosphere, B.A., Earth Sciences, University of New Hampshire. As they move (only inches every year), and depending on the direction of that movement, they collide, forming deep ocean trenches, mountains, volcanoes, and generating earthquakes. When continental and oceanic plates collide, the thinner and more dense oceanic plate is overridden by the thicker and less dense continental plate. Tectonic Plates are of two types, namely oceanic crust and … Progress Click the image for a 900-pixel version.

The 2006 U.S. Geological Survey map of tectonic plates show 21 of the major plates, as well as their movements and boundaries. Almost entirely hidden under the sea is a worldwide chain of low mountains with lines of volcanic activity running along their crests. Click the image for the 900-pixel version. Their worldwide extent was recognized in the mid-20th century, and shortly afterward the mid-ocean ridges were assigned a starring role in the new theory of plate tectonics. The north-east side of the Australian plate converges with the Pacific Plate. The Indo-Australia plate is a major plate combining the Australian and Indian Plate. The ridges are the divergent zones where oceanic plates are born, spreading apart from the central valley, or axial trough. Mid-ocean ridges are not the only place where the seafloor spreads apart back arc spreading zones occur near many subduction zones but they are so productive and so important in global geochemistry that "mid-ocean ridge basalt" is commonly known by its abbreviation MORB.

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