EarthMapped

Pacific Plate Map

The Pacific Plate in yellow, its neighbors in green, and its edges colored by boundary type. Tap any plate for its name and a link to its page.

Pacific Plate

Globe centered on the Pacific Plate with its plate boundariesPACIFICCOCOSOKHOTSKJUAN DE FUCANORTH AMERICANNAZCACAROLINE
  • Divergent (spreading ridge, rift)
  • Convergent (subduction, collision)
  • Transform (sliding past)
Layers
World plates map
Plate data: Bird (2003), PB2002, converted by Hugo Ahlenius, Nordpil (ODC-By 1.0). Land: Natural Earth (India POV).

The Pacific Plate is the largest plate on the PB2002 map1 and lies almost entirely under the Pacific Ocean. USGS describes the circum-Pacific Ring of Fire as the place where the Pacific Plate meets many surrounding plates, and calls it the most seismically and volcanically active zone in the world.

Along the San Andreas fault zone in California, the Pacific Plate has been grinding horizontally past the North American Plate for 10 million years, at an average rate of about 5 cm per year (USGS). In the west, USGS describes the Marianas Trench as the place where the fast-moving Pacific Plate converges against the slower Philippine Plate. PB2002 draws a narrow Mariana Plate between the two along the trench. Its Challenger Deep reaches nearly 11,000 m below sea level.

Not every volcano sits on an edge. The Hawaiian Islands formed more than 3,200 km from the nearest plate boundary. J. Tuzo Wilson proposed that they formed as the Pacific Plate moved over a deep, stationary hotspot, though USGS notes that later studies question whether hotspots are fixed. The islands get younger to the southeast: the oldest rocks on Kauai are about 5.5 million years old, while the oldest exposed rocks on the Big Island are less than 0.7 million years old.

The islands are only the young end of a much longer trail. The Hawaiian Ridge-Emperor Seamounts chain runs some 6,000 km from the Big Island to the Aleutian Trench off Alaska and is made of more than 80 volcanoes (USGS). A sharp bend in the chain shows that the motion of the Pacific Plate changed abruptly about 43 million years ago, from a northerly to a more westerly direction. Loihi Seamount, an active submarine volcano about 35 km off the southern coast of the Island of Hawaii, has already risen to within 1 km of the ocean surface and may become the next island in the chain.

Pacific Plate in numbers

Measured from its PB2002 outline, the Pacific Plate covers about 104.6 million km², or 20.5% of the Earth's surface. That makes it number 1 by area of the 52 plates in the model. It spans from 66°S to 60°N and from 138°E to 102°W.

Its edge is about 48,340 km long, mostly convergent: 31.3%divergent Divergent boundary. Plates pull away from each other and new crust forms between them. Source (15,137 km) , 40.3%convergent Convergent boundary. Plates move toward each other and crust is destroyed as one plate dives under another. Source (19,470 km) and 28.4%transform Transform boundary. Plates slide horizontally past each other. Crust is neither made nor destroyed. Source (13,733 km) .

Countries whose main landmass sits on this plate: New Zealand and Solomon Is.. Countries that straddle a boundary are listed under the plate that holds the center of their largest landmass.

Pacific Plate fact table

Pacific Plate at a glance, computed from PB2002
MeasureValue
Area 104.6 million km²
Share of Earth's surface 20.5%
Rank by area 1 of 52
Size group major
Neighboring plates 23
Boundary length 48,340 km
divergent boundary 15,137 km (31.3%)
convergent boundary 19,470 km (40.3%)
transform boundary 13,733 km (28.4%)
Mean relative speed 72.7 mm/yr (7.3 cm/yr)
Fastest against Tonga

Key facts

  1. The Pacific Plate covers 104.6 million km², number 1 of 52 PB2002 plates by area. Bird (2003)
  2. It is a major plate in our size split. See how many tectonic plates there are.
  3. It borders 23 plates. The longest shared edge is with the Antarctic Plate, about 9,178 km.
  4. Its 48,340 km edge is mostly convergent (40.3%).
  5. Along its boundaries it moves a mean 7.3 cm/yr relative to its neighbors, fastest against the Tonga Plate. Bird (2003)

Neighboring plates Neighbors. Plates that share a boundary with this plate. Most plate movement happens along these narrow zones between plates. Source

The Pacific Plate shares a boundary with 23 plates in PB2002, longest shared edge first. The longest, about 9,178 km, is with the Antarctic Plate; the shortest, about 62 km, is with the Solomon Sea Plate.

PlateShared edgeBoundary type
Antarctic Plate 9,178 km mixed, mostly divergent
North American Plate 8,263 km mixed, mostly convergent
Nazca Plate 4,433 km divergent
Australian Plate 4,276 km mixed, mostly convergent
Okhotsk Plate 3,016 km convergent
Kermadec Plate 2,306 km convergent
Cocos Plate 2,054 km divergent
Juan de Fuca Plate 1,898 km mixed, mostly divergent
Mariana Plate 1,867 km convergent
Philippine Sea Plate 1,819 km convergent
Caroline Plate 1,809 km transform
Tonga Plate 1,173 km convergent
North Bismarck Plate 1,143 km convergent
Easter Plate 922 km mixed, mostly divergent
Balmoral Reef Plate 915 km mixed, mostly divergent
Rivera Plate 802 km mixed, mostly transform
New Hebrides Plate 793 km mixed, mostly divergent
Juan Fernandez Plate 527 km divergent
Futuna Plate 495 km mixed, mostly transform
Niuafo'ou Plate 279 km mixed, mostly divergent
Galapagos Plate 189 km divergent
Woodlark Plate 121 km convergent
Solomon Sea Plate 62 km convergent

Sources: USGS, This Dynamic Earth: Understanding plate motions ; USGS, This Dynamic Earth: Hotspots ; USGS, This Dynamic Earth: The long trail of the Hawaiian hotspot ; USGS, This Dynamic Earth: Plate tectonics and people . Areas, lengths and neighbors are computed from PB2002 (Bird 2003).

Glossary

Neighbors
Plates that share a boundary with this plate. Most plate movement happens along these narrow zones between plates. Source
Divergent boundary
Plates pull away from each other and new crust forms between them. Source
Convergent boundary
Plates move toward each other and crust is destroyed as one plate dives under another. Source
Transform boundary
Plates slide horizontally past each other. Crust is neither made nor destroyed. Source

All terms in the glossary

Notes

  1. Computed from the PB2002 plate outlines and boundary types (Bird 2003).

Pacific Plate FAQ

How big is the Pacific Plate?
About 104.6 million km², or 20.5% of the Earth's surface, measured from its PB2002 outline. It ranks 1 of 52 plates by area.
Which plates border the Pacific Plate?
23 plates: Antarctic Plate, North American Plate, Nazca Plate, Australian Plate, Okhotsk Plate, Kermadec Plate, Cocos Plate, Juan de Fuca Plate, Mariana Plate, Philippine Sea Plate, Caroline Plate, Tonga Plate, North Bismarck Plate, Easter Plate, Balmoral Reef Plate, Rivera Plate, New Hebrides Plate, Juan Fernandez Plate, Futuna Plate, Niuafo'ou Plate, Galapagos Plate, Woodlark Plate and Solomon Sea Plate.
What kind of plate boundaries does the Pacific Plate have?
Mostly convergent boundaries. 31.3% divergent, 40.3% convergent, 28.4% transform, of 48,340 km in total.
How fast does the Pacific Plate move?
Relative to its neighbors, a mean 72.7 mm/yr (7.3 cm/yr) along its boundaries in PB2002. The fastest boundary is with the Tonga Plate.

Computed from PB2002: Bird (2003).