Damon Mcknight
The Australian plate is a major tectonic plate in the eastern and southern hemispheres, covering the whole of Australia, the Gulf of Carpentaria, southern New Guinea, the Arafura Sea, the Coral Sea, northwestern New Zealand, New Caledonia, Fiji, the southeast Indian Ocean, the Tasman Sea, and the Timor Sea. The Australian plate is around 47,000,000 km2 (18,000,000 sq mi) in size and is moving at a rate of about 6.9 cm (2.7 inches) per year in a northward direction with a small clockwise rotation.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Type of tectonic plate | Major tectonic plate |
| Area | 47,000,000 km2 (18,000,000 sq mi) |
| Speed | 6.9 cm (2.7 inches) a year in a northward direction with a small clockwise rotation |
| Crust | Oceanic crust and continental crust |
| Location | Eastern and southern hemispheres |
| Bordered by | Eurasian plate, Philippine plate, Pacific plate, Antarctic plate, African plate, Indian plate |
| Part of | Gondwana |
| Date of separation from Gondwana | 100 million years ago |
| Date of separation from Zealandia | 85 million years ago |
| Date of separation from Antarctica | 96 million years ago, with some sources stating 60 million years ago and others 45 million years ago |
| Date of separation from Indo-Australian plate | 3 million years ago |
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What You'll Learn
- The Australian plate's size: 47,000,000 km2 (18,000,000 sq mi)
- Tectonic plates: Earth's crust and upper mantle
- Australia's stability: remarkably tectonically stable
- Neighbouring plates: Eurasian, Philippine, Pacific, Antarctic, African, Indian
- The Indo-Australian plate: formed by Indian and Australian plates
The Australian plate's size: 47,000,000 km2 (18,000,000 sq mi)
The Australian tectonic plate is a major plate with an area of 47,000,000 km2 (18,000,000 sq mi). It covers the whole of Australia, the Gulf of Carpentaria, southern New Guinea, the Arafura Sea, the Coral Sea, northwestern New Zealand, New Caledonia, Fiji, and parts of the Indian Ocean basin. The Australian plate is bordered by the Eurasian, Philippine, Pacific, Antarctic, African, and Indian plates.
The Australian plate was once part of the ancient supercontinent Gondwana, which began breaking up around 132 million years ago. Australia and Antarctica completely separated somewhere between 45 and 60 million years ago. The Australian plate later fused with the Indian plate to form the Indo-Australian plate, but recent studies suggest that these plates may have split apart again and have been separate for at least 3 million years.
The Indo-Australian plate is one of the major tectonic plates on Earth, encompassing a vast region that includes the Indian subcontinent, Australia, and parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. This plate is known for its complex tectonic interactions, including the ongoing collision between the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate, which has resulted in the formation of the Himalayan mountain range.
The Australian plate is moving about 6.9 cm (2.7 inches) a year in a northward direction with a slight clockwise rotation. This movement has resulted in the necessity to update the Global Positioning System as some locations move faster than others. The Australian plate is relatively stable tectonically, with most of the coast classified as a passive margin or trailing edge.
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Tectonic plates: Earth's crust and upper mantle
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.
The Australian Plate is a major tectonic plate in the eastern and, largely, southern hemispheres. Originally a part of the ancient continent of Gondwana, Australia remained connected to India and Antarctica until approximately 100 million years ago when India broke away and began moving north. The Australian plate includes the continent of Australia, including Tasmania, as well as portions of New Guinea, New Zealand and the Indian Ocean basin. The continental crust of this plate covers the whole of Australia, the Gulf of Carpentaria, southern New Guinea, the Arafura Sea, the Coral Sea, northwestern New Zealand, New Caledonia, and Fiji. The oceanic crust includes the southeast Indian Ocean, the Tasman Sea, and the Timor Sea. The Australian plate is bordered (clockwise) by the Eurasian plate, the Philippine plate, the Pacific plate, the Antarctic plate, the African plate, and the Indian plate.
The Indo-Australian Plate is one of Earth’s major tectonic plates, formed by the fusion of the Indian and Australian plates (sometimes considered separate tectonic plates). It is the second smallest major plate, being slightly larger than the South American Plate. The Indo-Australian Plate includes the majority of the Indian Ocean and parts of the Pacific Ocean. It borders the Eurasian Plate in the north, the Antarctic Plate in the south, and the Pacific Plate in the east. The Indo-Australian Plate moves at an average rate of about 3 centimeters per year.
The movement of tectonic plates results in various geological phenomena. For instance, the ongoing collision between the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate has given rise to the Himalayan mountain range and continues to drive seismic activity in the region. The boundary interface between the Australian and Pacific Plates hosted an Mw 8.0 earthquake nearby Santa Cruz Islands in 2013, resulting in a tsunami that struck the coasts of Nendo Island.
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Australia's stability: remarkably tectonically stable
Australia is located centrally on the Australian plate and is remarkably stable tectonically. The Australian plate is a major tectonic plate in the eastern and, largely, southern hemispheres. It covers the whole of Australia, the Gulf of Carpentaria, southern New Guinea, the Arafura Sea, the Coral Sea, northwestern New Zealand, New Caledonia, Fiji, the southeast Indian Ocean, the Tasman Sea, and the Timor Sea.
The Australian plate was originally part of the ancient continent of Gondwana. Australia remained connected to India and Antarctica until about 100 million years ago when India broke away and began moving north. Australia and Antarctica began rifting about 96 million years ago and completely separated by 60 million years ago, though some believe this occurred as recently as 45 million years ago.
The Australian plate later fused with the adjacent Indian plate beneath the Indian Ocean to form a single Indo-Australian plate. However, recent studies suggest that the two plates may have split apart again and have been separate plates for at least 3 million years. The Indo-Australian plate has an area of 58,900,000 km2 (22,700,000 sq mi), while the separate Australian plate has an area of 47,000,000 km2 (18,000,000 sq mi).
Despite Australia's tectonic stability, the continent experiences significant levels of seismicity and large earthquakes from time to time. These earthquakes are caused by compressive stresses in the crust, which exist continent-wide. The orientation of the axis of maximum compression varies across the continent, with the direction being northwest-southeast in the southeast and almost east-west in the southwest.
The Australian plate is bordered by the Eurasian, Philippine, Pacific, Antarctic, African, and Indian plates. The Pacific plate is subducting under the Australian plate, forming the Tonga and Kermadec Trenches and the parallel Tonga and Kermadec island arcs. The continent of Zealandia, which separated from Australia 85 million years ago, is now being torn apart along the Alpine Fault. South of New Zealand, the Australian plate is beginning to subduct under the Pacific plate along the Puysegur Trench.
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Neighbouring plates: Eurasian, Philippine, Pacific, Antarctic, African, Indian
The Australian plate is bordered by the Eurasian, Philippine, Pacific, Antarctic, African, and Indian plates. The Australian plate was once part of the ancient continent of Gondwana but broke away around 100 million years ago.
The Eurasian plate includes most of Eurasia, with the notable exceptions of the Arabian Peninsula, the Indian subcontinent, and the area east of the Chersky Range in eastern Siberia. The boundary between the Eurasian and North American plates in the area around Japan has been described as "shifty". The Okhotsk microplate was discovered in the 1990s to be independent of the North American plate and a boundary with the Amurian microplate, sometimes described as a division within the Eurasian plate. The Anatolian sub-plate is currently being squeezed by the collision of the Eurasian and Arabian plates in the East Anatolian Fault Zone. The Eurasian plate is moving north at a rate of 2 cm per year.
The Philippine Sea plate is a tectonic plate that lies beneath the Philippine Sea, to the east of the Philippines. The Philippine Sea plate is bordered by the Okhotsk microplate at the Nankai Trough to the north, and the Amurian and Okhotsk plates to the northeast, near Mount Fuji in Japan. To the east, the Pacific plate subducts beneath the Philippine Sea plate at the Izu-Ogasawara Trench. The Philippine Sea plate subducts under the Philippine Mobile Belt to the west at the Philippine Trench and the East Luzon Trench.
The Pacific plate is almost entirely oceanic crust, but it also contains some continental crust in New Zealand, Baja California, and coastal California. The southern part of Zealandia, which is to the east of the Alpine Fault boundary, is the plate's largest block of continental crust. The Pacific plate has a complex but generally convergent boundary with the Indo-Australian plate to the southwest, subducting under it north of New Zealand and forming the Tonga and Kermadec Trenches.
The Antarctic plate is a tectonic plate containing the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau, and some remote islands in the Southern Ocean and other surrounding oceans. The Antarctic plate has an area of about 60,900,000 km2, making it the fifth-largest tectonic plate on Earth. The Antarctic plate is bounded almost entirely by extensional mid-ocean ridge systems. The Antarctic plate started to subduct beneath South America 14 million years ago in the Miocene epoch. The Antarctic plate is moving at least 1 cm per year towards the Atlantic Ocean.
The African plate, also known as the Nubian plate, is a major tectonic plate that includes most of the continent of Africa, except for its easternmost part, and the adjacent oceanic crust to the west and south. It also includes a narrow strip of Western Asia along the Mediterranean Sea, including parts of Israel and Lebanon. The African plate is bounded by the North and South American plates to the west, the Arabian and Somali plates to the east, the Antarctic plate to the south, and the Aegean Sea, Anatolian, and Eurasian plates to the north. The African plate is rifting in the eastern interior of the African continent along the East African Rift. The African plate is moving at a speed of 2.15 cm per year in a general northeast direction.
The Indian plate is a minor tectonic plate that straddles the equator in the Eastern Hemisphere. It includes most of modern-day South Asia (the Indian subcontinent) and a portion of the basin under the Indian Ocean, including parts of South China and western Indonesia. The Indian plate was once fused with the adjacent Australian plate to form a single Indo-Australian plate, but recent studies suggest that the two plates may have been separate for at least 3 million years. The Indian plate is currently moving northeast at a rate of 5 cm per year.
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The Indo-Australian plate: formed by Indian and Australian plates
The Indo-Australian Plate is a major tectonic plate formed by the fusion of the Indian and Australian plates. The plate contains the continent of Australia, its surrounding ocean, and extends northwest to include the Indian subcontinent and the adjacent waters. The Indo-Australian Plate includes the majority of the Indian Ocean and stretches from Australia to India. The northeastern side of the Australian plate converges with the Pacific Plate, with the Pacific plate sinking below the Australian plate to form the Kermadec Trench and the island arcs of Tonga and Kermadec.
The Indo-Australian Plate was formed approximately 43 million years ago when the mid-ocean ridge in the Indian Ocean, which separated the two plates, ceased spreading. Australia and India were once part of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, which began to break apart between 132 and 96 million years ago. India broke away from Gondwana and began moving north approximately 100 million years ago, while Australia and Antarctica began rifting approximately 96 million years ago.
The Australian plate includes the continent of Australia, including Tasmania, as well as portions of New Guinea, New Zealand, and the Indian Ocean basin. The continental crust of this plate covers the Gulf of Carpentaria, southern New Guinea, the Arafura Sea, the Coral Sea, northwestern New Zealand, New Caledonia, and Fiji. The oceanic crust includes the southeast Indian Ocean, the Tasman Sea, and the Timor Sea. The Australian plate is bordered by the Eurasian plate, the Philippine plate, the Pacific plate, the Antarctic plate, the African plate, and the Indian plate.
The Indo-Australian Plate is in the process of separating into two or three plates and may already be separated into more than one plate. Studies suggest that the Indian and Australian plates have been separate for at least 3 million years, with some data indicating that they are moving on different vectors northward. The western side of the Indo-Australian Plate is subdivided by the Indian plate, which borders the Arabian plate to the north and the African plate to the south. The northern margin of the Indian plate forms a convergent boundary with the Eurasian plate, resulting in the formation of the Himalayas and the Hindukush mountain ranges.
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Frequently asked questions
The Australian plate is a major tectonic plate with an area of 47,000,000 km2 (18,000,000 sq mi).
The Australian plate includes the continent of Australia, Tasmania, and portions of New Guinea, New Zealand, and the Indian Ocean basin. The continental crust covers the Gulf of Carpentaria, the Arafura Sea, and the Coral Sea, as well as northwestern New Zealand, New Caledonia, and Fiji.
Recent studies suggest that the Australian plate has separated from the Indian plate, forming two distinct plates that have been moving independently for at least 3 million years.
The Australian plate is moving at a rate of about 6.9 cm (2.7 inches) per year in a northward direction, with a slight clockwise rotation. This movement is faster than that of other plates, and it necessitates updates to the Global Positioning System.
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