Indo-Australian Plate - Definition and Overview

The tectonic plates of the world were mapped in the second half of the 20th century.

The Indo-Australian Plate is a continental tectonic plate covering the continent of Australia, the surrounding ocean and extending northwest to the border of India with China and Nepal. It is subdivided into two plates along a low active boundary: the Australian plate and the smallest continental Indian Plate.

The easterly side is a convergent boundary with the subducting Pacific Plate, and is elevated along the volcanic pacific islands of New Zealand and in the South-West Pacific, long chains of extinct volcanos whose only subsist today the emerging lagoons.

The southerly side is a 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 Himalayan 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.

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