A tectonic plate is a large piece of Earth’s lithosphere: the crust and the rigid uppermost mantle. Plates move relative to one another over hotter mantle that can deform slowly over time.
Plates are not simply continents. A single plate can carry a continent and a large area of ocean floor; some are mostly oceanic.
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Open the interactive tectonic plates map →
Plates to find on the globe
| Plate | Where to look |
|---|---|
| Pacific | Beneath much of the Pacific Ocean |
| North American | North America and part of the North Atlantic |
| South American | South America and ocean floor to its east |
| Eurasian | Much of Europe and Asia |
| African and Somali | Across Africa and adjoining ocean floor |
| Antarctic | Antarctica and its surrounding ocean floor |
| Indian and Australian | India, Australia, and adjoining parts of the Indian Ocean |
| Nazca | The eastern Pacific, west of South America |
Why do different maps show different numbers of plates?
Some introductory maps group neighboring regions together, such as an Indo-Australian Plate. More detailed models separate those regions and include smaller plates. Boundaries can also be broad zones of deformation rather than sharp lines.
Explorer’s map distinguishes India and Australia, and includes several smaller plates. Its colors identify regions; they do not show danger levels or movement speed.
Look for the pattern, then the exceptions
Turn on earthquakes and compare their locations with the plate edges. You will often see clusters and bands near boundaries. Earthquakes can also happen within plates, so an event away from a colored edge is not necessarily a mapping mistake.
A week of earthquakes is only a short snapshot. An apparently quiet boundary may still have a long earthquake history. Use plate boundaries to understand the processes, and largest earthquakes to add a longer perspective.
Sources & further reading
By Josh Clemm · Reviewed September 5, 2026. Educational information from Earthquake Alert; no earthquake early warnings.