Editing List of tectonic plates (section)

==Current plates==
[[Geologist]]s generally agree that the following tectonic plates currently exist on [[Earth#Surface|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'').<ref name="Madaan 2020">{{cite web |last=Madaan |first=About Sonia |title=7 Major Tectonic Plates (Pacific, African, Eurasian, Antarctic and more) |website=Earth Eclipse |date=2020-08-18 |url=https://eartheclipse.com/geology/tectonic-plates.html#How_Many_Tectonic_Plates_Are_on_Earth |at=How Many Tectonic Plates Are on Earth?|access-date=2022-05-12}}</ref>

===Major plates===
[[Image:Tectonic plates boundaries World map Wt 180degE centered-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.85|Map showing Earth's principal tectonic plates and their boundaries in detail]]

These plates comprise 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 {{convert|20|e6km2|abbr=unit}}

* {{annotated link|African plate}} – {{convert|61300000|km2|abbr=on}}
* {{annotated link|Antarctic plate}} – {{convert|60900000|km2|abbr=on}}
* {{annotated link|Eurasian plate}} – {{convert|67800000|km2|abbr=on}}
* {{annotated link|Indo-Australian plate}} (sometimes considered to be two separate tectonic plates) – {{convert|58900000|km2|abbr=on}}
** {{annotated link|Australian plate}} – {{convert|47000000|km2|abbr=on}}
** {{annotated link|Indian plate}} – {{convert|11900000|km2|abbr=on}}
* {{annotated link|North American plate}} – {{convert|75900000|km2|abbr=on}}
* {{annotated link|Pacific plate}} – {{convert|103300000|km2|abbr=on}}
* {{annotated link|South American plate}} – {{convert|43600000|km2|abbr=on}}

===Minor plates===
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 {{convert|20|e6km2|abbr=unit}} but greater than {{convert|1|e6km2|abbr=unit}}.

* {{annotated link|Amurian microplate}}
* {{annotated link|Arabian plate}} – {{convert|5000000|km2|abbr=on}}
* {{annotated link|Burma plate}} – {{convert|1100000|km2|abbr=on}}
* {{annotated link|Caribbean plate}} – {{convert|3300000|km2|abbr=on}}
* {{annotated link|Caroline plate}} – {{convert|1700000|km2|abbr=on}}
* {{annotated link|Cocos plate}} – {{convert|2900000|km2|abbr=on}}
* {{annotated link|Indian plate}} – {{convert|11900000|km2|abbr=on}}
* {{annotated link|Nazca plate}} – {{convert|15600000|km2|abbr=on}}{{refn|group=note|15,600,000 km<sup>2</sup> is the original size before the 2017 split of the [[Coiba plate|Coiba]] and [[Malpelo plate|Malpelo]] plates.}}
* {{annotated link|New Hebrides plate}} – {{convert|1100000|km2|abbr=on}}
* {{annotated link|Okhotsk microplate}}
* {{annotated link|Philippine Sea plate}} – {{convert|5500000|km2|abbr=on}}
* {{annotated link|Scotia plate}} – {{convert|1600000|km2|abbr=on}}
* {{annotated link|Somali plate}} – {{convert|16700000|km2|abbr=on}}
* {{annotated link|Sunda plate}}
* {{annotated link|Yangtze plate}}

===Microplates===
These plates are often grouped with an adjacent principal plate on a tectonic plate world map. For purposes of this list, a microplate is any plate with an area less than 1 million km<sup>2</sup>. Some models identify more minor plates within current [[orogeny|orogens]] (events that lead to a large structural deformation of [[Lithosphere#Earth's lithosphere|Earth's lithosphere]]) like the Apulian, Explorer, Gorda, and Philippine Mobile Belt plates.<ref>Bird, P. (2003). "An updated digital model of plate boundaries". ''Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems'' 4 (3): 1027. {{doi|10.1029/2001GC000252}}. http://peterbird.name/publications/2003_PB2002/2003_PB2002.htm.</ref> The latest studies have shown that microplates are the basic elements of which 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.<ref name ='Hasterok-etal_2022'>Hasterok, D., Halpin, J., Collins, A.S., Hand, M., Kreemer, C., Gard, M., and Glorie, S. (2022); New maps of global geological provinces and tectonic plates. Earth Science Reviews, 2022.</ref><ref name ='van Dijk_2023'>van Dijk, J.P. (2023); The New Global Tectonic Map – Analyses and Implications. Terra Nova, 2023, 27 pp. {{doi|10.1111/TER.12662}}</ref>

[[File:JPVD-NGTM2023-Comp2.jpg|upright=2|right|thumb|The new Global Tectonic Map with the subdivision of the continents, oceans and mobile mountain belts in ca. 1200 smaller plates. Legend: green: terrane (microplate) boundaries in the continental blocks; cyan: terranes of the oceanic plates; orange: terranes inside the mobile belts; blue: oceanic transform faults; red: fault zones in the continental and mountain belt domain; purple: main subduction zones and suture zones; orange dots: volcanoes.]]

* African plate
** {{annotated link|Lwandle plate}}
** {{annotated link|Rovuma plate}}
** {{annotated link|Victoria microplate}}
** [[Danakil microplate]] - a microplate at the [[Afar triple junction]]
* Antarctic plate
** {{annotated link|East Antarctic plate}}<ref>[https://antarctic-plate-tectonics.weebly.com/tectonic-plates.html Antarctic Plate Tectonics]</ref>
** {{annotated link|Shetland plate}}
** {{annotated link|West Antarctic plate}}
* Australian plate
** {{annotated link|Capricorn plate}}
** {{annotated link|Futuna plate}}
** {{annotated link|Kermadec plate}}
** {{annotated link|Macquarie plate}}<ref name=Gasperini2023>{{cite journal| last1=Gasperini| first1=L| last2=Ligi| first2=M| last3=Accettella| first3=D| last4=Bosman| first4=A| last5=Cuffaro| first5=M| last6=Lodolo| first6=E| last7=Martorelli| first7=E| last8=Muccini| first8=F| last9=Palmiotto| first9=C| last10=Polonia| first10=A| title=Late Miocene to recent tectonic evolution of the Macquarie Triple Junction| journal=Geology| date=1 February 2023| volume=51 |issue=2|pages=146–50| doi=10.1130/G50556.1| doi-access=free}}</ref>
** {{annotated link|Maoke plate}}
** {{annotated link|Niuafo'ou plate}}
** {{annotated link|Tonga plate}}
** {{annotated link|Woodlark plate}}
* Caribbean plate
** {{annotated link|Gonâve microplate}}
** {{annotated link|Hispaniola microplate}}
** {{annotated link|North Hispaniola microplate}}
** {{annotated link|Panama plate}}
** {{annotated link|Puerto Rico-Virgin Islands microplate}}
** {{annotated link|South Jamaica microplate}}
* Cocos plate
** {{annotated link|Rivera plate}}
* Eurasian plate
** {{annotated link|Adriatic plate|aka=the Apulian plate}}
** {{annotated link|Aegean Sea plate|aka=Hellenic plate}}
** {{annotated link|Anatolian plate}}
** {{annotated link|Azores Plateau|Azores microplate}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.civil.ist.utl.pt/cratera/intro.htm|title=Introduction – Project Cratera|work=utl.pt}}</ref><ref>[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234468330_MORVEL_A_new_estimate_for_geologically_recent_plate_motions Demets, C., Gordon, Richard, & Argus, Donald, «MORVEL: A new estimate for geologically recent plate motions» in ''AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts''].</ref> 
** {{annotated link|Banda Sea plate}}
** {{annotated link|Hreppar microplate}} – Small tectonic plate in south Iceland, between the Eurasian plate and the North American plate
** {{annotated link|Iberian plate}}
** {{annotated link|Iranian plate}}
** {{annotated link|Molucca Sea plate}}
*** {{annotated link|Halmahera plate}}
*** {{annotated link|Sangihe plate}}
** {{annotated link|Okinawa plate}}
** {{annotated link|Pelso plate}}
** {{annotated link|Timor plate}}
** {{annotated link|Tisza plate}}
* Nazca plate
** {{annotated link|Coiba plate}}
** {{annotated link|Malpelo plate}}
* North American plate
** {{annotated link|Greenland plate}}<ref>{{cite news |author1=Niels Henriksen |author2=A.K. Higgins |author3=Feiko Kalsbeek |author4=T. Christopher R. Pulvertaft |year=2000 |title=Greenland from Archaean to Quaternary |work=Greenland Survey Bulletin |issue=185 |url=http://www.geus.dk/publications/bull-gl/nr185/nr185_p12-24.pdf |url-status=dead |access-date=2009-10-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207074112/http://www.geus.dk/publications/bull-gl/nr185/nr185_p12-24.pdf |archive-date=2008-12-07}}</ref>
** {{annotated link|Queen Elizabeth Islands Subplate}}
* Pacific plate
** {{annotated link|Balmoral Reef plate}}
** {{annotated link|Bird's Head plate}}
** {{annotated link|Conway Reef plate}}
** {{annotated link|Easter microplate}}
** {{annotated link|Galápagos microplate}}
** {{annotated link|Juan de Fuca plate}} – 250,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
*** {{annotated link|Explorer plate}}
*** {{annotated link|Gorda plate}}
** {{annotated link|Juan Fernández plate}}
** {{annotated link|Manus plate}}
** {{annotated link|North Bismarck plate}}
** {{annotated link|North Galapagos microplate|North Galápagos microplate}}
** {{annotated link|Solomon Sea plate}}
** {{annotated link|South Bismarck plate}}
** {{annotated link|Trobriand plate}}
* Philippine Sea plate
** {{annotated link|Mariana plate}}
** {{annotated link|Philippine Mobile Belt|aka=Philippine microplate}}
* Scotia plate
** {{annotated link|South Sandwich plate}}
* Somali plate
** {{annotated link|Madagascar plate}}
* South American plate
** {{annotated link|Altiplano plate}}
** {{annotated link|Falklands microplate}}
** {{annotated link|North Andes plate}} (mainly in [[:Category:Geology of Colombia|Colombia]], minor parts in [[:Category:Geology of Ecuador|Ecuador]] and [[:Category:Geology of Venezuela|Venezuela]])