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.
9-603: The Malpelo plate is a small tectonic plate (microplate) located off the coasts west of Ecuador and Colombia . It is the 57th plate to be identified. It is named after Malpelo Island , the only emerged part of the plate. It is bounded on the west by the Cocos plate , on the south by the Nazca plate , on the east by the North Andes Plate , and on the north by the Coiba plate , separated by
18-547: A paper published in 2017. The formation of the oceanic crust of the plate has been estimated to be since the Middle Miocene (14.7 Ma). The researchers used a Columbia University database of multibeam sonar soundings west of Ecuador and Colombia to identify a diffuse plate boundary that runs from the Panama Transform Fault (PTF) eastward to where the boundary intersects a deep oceanic trench just offshore of
27-460: 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
36-418: 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:
45-509: 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
54-593: The Coiba transform fault (CTF). This microplate was previously assumed to be part of the Nazca plate. The Malpelo plate borders three major faults of Pacific Colombia, the north to south striking Bahía Solano Fault in the north and the Naya-Micay and Remolino-El Charco Faults in the south. The Malpelo plate was hypothesised in 2013 and identified by a non-closure of the Nazca–Cocos–Pacific plate motion circuit, in
63-549: The South American coast, north of the Galapagos Islands . Gómez Tapias, Jorge; Montes Ramírez, Nohora E.; Almanza Meléndez, María F.; Alcárcel Gutiérrez, Fernando A.; Madrid Montoya, César A.; Diederix, Hans (2015). Geological Map of Colombia . Servicio Geológico Colombiano . pp. 1–212 . Retrieved 2019-10-29 . List of tectonic plates#Microplates Geologists generally agree that
72-420: 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
81-465: 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 the bulk of the continents and the Pacific Ocean . For purposes of this list, a major plate
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