What Is The Largest Tectonic Plate On Earth? (ANSWER)

LARGEST TECTONIC PLATE – In this topic, we are going to know and identify the largest tectonic plate on Earth.

As previously mentioned, they are pieces patching the lithosphere. The lithosphere is the Earth’s crust and the upper mantle.

There are eight major tectonic plates, namely:

So, among the eight of these plates, which of them is the largest of them all?

Answer

It is none other than the Pacific Plate.

It is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. It is 103 million kilometer square or 40 million square miles wide.

The plate contains an interior hot spot which forms the Hawaiian Islands.

Boundaries

Here are the following boundaries:

North-east side (divergent boundary)
- Explorer Plate, forming the Explorer Ridge
- Juan de Fuca Plate, forming the Juan de Fuca Ridge
- Gorda Plate, forming the Gorda Ridge
middle-east side (transform boundary)
- North American Plate, along the San Andreas Fault
- Cocos Plate
south-east side (divergent boundary)
- Nazca Plate, forming the East Pacific Rise
southern side (divergent boundary)
- Antarctic Plate, forming the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge
western side
- bounded by Okhotsk Plate at the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench and Japan Trench, forming a convergent boundary via subducting under the Philippine Sea plate, forming the Mariana Trench.
south-west (convergent boundary)
- Indo Australian Plate, subducting under it north of New Zealand forming the Tonga Trench and the Kermadec Trench.
northern side (convergent boundary)
- North American Plate, forming the Aleutian Trench