File:AustralianPlate.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Key facts
- Type
- Major
- Approximate area
- 47,000,000 km (18,000,000 sq mi)
- Movement
- northeast
- Speed
- 62–70 mm/year
- Features
- Australia, New Guinea , New Zealand, Indian Ocean
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- tectonic plate
- Part of
- Indo-Australian Plate
- Country
- Papua New Guinea
- Shares border with
- Pacific Plate
Show 1 more fact
- Commons category
- Australian tectonic plate
via Wikidata · CC0
~12 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Australian plate is or was a major tectonic plate in the Eastern Hemisphere and, largely, Southern Hemisphere. 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 and completely separated a while after this, some believing as recently as 45 million years ago, but most accepting presently that this had occurred by 60 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 once again split apart and have been separate plates for at least 3 million years. The Australian plate includes the continent of Australia, including Tasmania, as well as portions of New Guinea, New Zealand and the Indian Ocean basin.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Australian Plate” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.