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Indo-Australian Plate
*** Shopping-Tip: Indo-Australian Plate
Image:Tectonic plates.png thumb|300px|The Indo-Australian plate is shown in dull orange on this map.
The '''Indo-Australian Plate''' is an overarching name for two
tectonic plates that include the
continent of
Australia and surrounding
ocean extending northwest to include the
South Asia Indian subcontinent and adjacent waters. It is subdivided into two plates along a low active boundary: the Australian Plate and the smaller
Indian Plate. The two plates fused together between 50 to 55 million years age, prior to that time, they moved independently.
India,
Meganesia (
Australia,
New Guinea, and
Tasmania),
New Zealand, and
New Caledonia are all fragments of the ancient supercontinent of
Gondwana.
Seafloor spreading separated these land masses from one another, but as the spreading centers became inactive they were thought to have fused into a single plate. Recent research indicates that the plates are separating, however it will take some time to properly publicise this fact. [http://www.sciencealert.com.au/stories/misc/tectonic.htm], [http://www.columbia.edu/cu/pr/95/18688.html]
Recent
GPS measurement in
Australia confirms the plate's movement as being 35 degrees east of north with a velocity of 67mm/yr. Note also the same directions and velocities for points at
Auckland,
Christmas Island and southern
India. The slight change in direction at Auckland is presumably due to a slight buckling of the plate there, where it is being compressed by the
Pacific Plate.
The easterly side is a
convergent boundary with the subducting
Pacific Plate. The Pacific Plate subducting under the Australian Plate forms the
Kermadec Trench, and the
Tonga and
Kermadec Islands Kermadec island arcs.
New Zealand lies along the southeastern boundary of the plate. New Zealand and New Caledonia are the southern and northern ends of the former land mass of
Tasmantis, which separated from Australia 85 million years ago. The central part of Tasmantis sank below the sea, and now constitutes the
Lord Howe Rise.
The southerly side is a
divergent boundary with the
Antarctic Plate. The westerly side is subdivided with the
Indian Plate that forms a boundary with the
Arabian Plate to the north and the
African Plate to the south. The northerly side of the Indian Plate is a
convergent boundary with the
Eurasian Plate forming the
Himalaya and
Hindu Kush mountains.
The north-east side of the
Australian plate forms a
subducting boundary with the
Eurasian plate on the borders of the
Indian Ocean from
Bangladesh, to
Myanmar (former
Burma) to the south-west of
Indonesian islands of
Sumatra and
Borneo. The subducting boundary through Indonesia is reflected in the
biogeography biogeographical Wallace line that separtates the indigenous fauna of Asia from that of Australasia.
Category:Plate tectonics
Category:Geography of Australia
Category:Geology of Australia
de:Australische Platte
es:Placa Indoaustraliana
pl:PÅ‚yta Indoaustralijska
pt:Placa Indo-australiana
ru:Ð?вÑ?тралийÑ?каÑ? плита
*** Shopping-Tip: Indo-Australian Plate
