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Distribution of Plate Boundaries

Major plate boundaries

Major plate boundaries
Image Credit: MBG

Major continental and oceanic plates, their extension and growth rates

Major continental and oceanic plates, their extension and growth rates
Image Credit: Anderson (1987)

Santorini Volcano (Greece), part of the Eurasian continental plate

Santorini Volcano (Greece), part of the Eurasian continental plate
Image Credit: MBG

Volcanic neck, Assekrem Plateau (Algeria), African Plate

Volcanic neck, Assekrem Plateau (Algeria), African Plate
Image Credit: MBG

Mt. Kidd, Canadian Rocky Mountains Thrust Belt, North American plat

Mt. Kidd, Canadian Rocky Mountains Thrust Belt, North American plat
Image Credit: C. Heubeck

In addition to the nine large plates listed, there are approximately another three dozens of smaller plates or microplates, such as Okhotsk, Amur,  Okinawa, Caribbean, Molucca Sea, Banda Sea, Timor, Birds Head, Maoke, Caroline, Mariana, North Bismarck, Manus, South Bismarck, Solomon Sea, Woodlark, New Hebrides, Conway Reef, Balmoral Reef, Futuna, Niuafo’ou, Tonga, Kermadec, Rivera, Galápagos, Easter, Juan Fernandez, Panama, North Andes,  Shetland, Sandwich, Aegean Sea and Anatolia.

Volcanically and seimically active continental regions such as the Alpine-Himalyan mountain belt, the Philippine Islands, the Peruvian Andes, the Sierras Pampeanas, or the western U.S. are better designated as orogens rather than plates or microplates.