Major tectonic plate separated from Indo-Australian Plate about 3 million years ago
Australian Plate
Type
Major
Approximate area
47,000,000 km2 (18,000,000 sq mi)[1]
Movement1
northeast
Speed1
62–70 mm/year
Features
Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Indian Ocean
1Relative to the African Plate
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. Australia and Antarctica had begun rifting by 96 million years ago[2] and completely separated a while after this, some believing as recently as 45 million years ago,[3] but most accepting presently that this had occurred by 60 million years ago.[4]
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 have once again split apart and have been separate plates for at least 3 million years and likely longer.[5] The Australian Plate includes the continent of Australia, including Tasmania, as well as portions of New Guinea, New Zealand and the Indian Ocean basin.
^"Sizes of Tectonic or Lithospheric Plates". Geology.about.com. 2014-03-05. Archived from the original on 2016-06-05. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
^McLoughlin, S. (2001). "The breakup history of Gondwana and its impact on pre-Cenozoic floristic provincialism". Australian Journal of Botany. 49 (3): 271–300. doi:10.1071/BT00023. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
^"New Look at Gondwana's Breakup". Livescience.com. 2013-07-05. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
years ago. The Australianplate later fused with the adjacent Indian Plate beneath the Indian Ocean to form a single Indo-AustralianPlate. However, recent...
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adjacent AustralianPlate to form a single Indo-AustralianPlate, and recent studies suggest that India and Australia have been separate plates for at least...
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with the Indian Plate and the AustralianPlate to form the Indo-AustralianPlate, but recent studies suggest that the Capricorn Plate began separating...
Molucca Sea Plate, Banda Sea Plate and Timor Plate; to the south and west by the AustralianPlate; and to the north by the Burma Plate, Eurasian Plate; and Yangtze...
Trench. The oceanic AustralianPlate is subducted beneath the continental Sunda Plate along the Sunda Trench. The oceanic Solomon Sea Plate is subducting beneath...
African Plate, the Somali Plate, the Indo-AustralianPlate, the Pacific Plate, and, across a transform boundary, the Scotia Plate. The Antarctic Plate has...
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the north and the AustralianPlate to the south with the Niuafo'ou Plate to the east. Bird, P. (2003) An updated digital model of plate boundaries, Geochemistry...
forming the Gulf of Aden. The Indian Plate, AustralianPlate, and Antarctic Plate all diverge from the Somali Plate forming the eastern Indian Ocean. The Somali-Indian...
The plate borders are: East, with the Indo-Australianplate, at the Owen Fracture Zone South, with the African Plate to the west and the Somali Plate and...
registration plate, also known as a number plate (British, Indian and Australian English) or license plate (American English) or licence plate (Canadian...
Timor Plate is a small tectonic plate (microplate) in Southeast Asia carrying the island of Timor and surrounding islands. The AustralianPlate is subducting...
microplate called the Trobriand Plate. To the south lies a transform boundary with the AustralianPlate and the Bird's Head Plate lies to the west. Bird, P...
by the Pacific Plate, on the northwest by the Niuafo’ou Microplate, on the west and south by the Indo-AustralianPlate. The Tonga plate is subducting the...
suspected to have four active triple junctions, two of which are with the AustralianPlate to its south, based on areas of high seismic activity and other evidence...
of the Owen Stanley Range as it is separated in the range from the AustralianPlate by the Owen Stanley Fault Zone This extends along the southern border...
fracturing of the Indo-Australianplate into the modern Indian Plate, AustralianPlate, and possibly Capricorn Plate. As the India Plate drifted northwards...
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east it is bounded by the Bird's Head Plate of western New Guinea, AustralianPlate, Timor Plate, Sunda Plate, and the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. The...
the Eurasian Plate and the Indian Plate that is forming the Himalayas. The collision between the AustralianPlate and the Pacific Plate that formed the...
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was once attached to the Gondwana supercontinent and later the Indo-AustralianPlate. Rifting in the Somali Basin began at the end of the Carboniferous...
the north, it borders the Pacific Plate, the AustralianPlate, Conway Reef Plate, and the New Hebrides Plate. The northern and western borders are a divergent...
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