Plate data: Bird (2003), PB2002, converted by Hugo Ahlenius, Nordpil (ODC-By 1.0). Land: Natural Earth (India POV).
The African Plate carries most of Africa and the ocean floor around it. In PB2002 the Horn of Africa and the east coast sit on a separate Somali Plate, split off along the East African Rift Zone, which USGS describes as a possible new spreading center and perhaps the site of the next major ocean.
To the northeast, spreading has torn the Arabian Peninsula away from Africa and formed the Red Sea. The African and Arabian Plates meet at a triple junction where the Red Sea meets the Gulf of Aden. To the north, the Mediterranean and Alpine region between the African and Eurasian Plates is a broad plate-boundary zone with several microplates (USGS).
USGS uses the Afar Triangle as its example of a triple junction, where three plates pull away from one another: the Arabian Plate and the two parts of the African Plate, the Nubian and the Somalian, splitting along the East African Rift Zone. Erta Ale in Ethiopia, with an active lava lake in its summit crater, and Oldoinyo Lengai, which erupted explosively in 1966, are both active volcanoes in the rift. USGS adds that the region lets scientists study first hand how the Atlantic may have begun to form about 200 million years ago.
To the west, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge separates the African Plate from the American plates. It splits nearly the entire Atlantic Ocean from north to south and spreads at an average of about 2.5 cm per year (USGS). Alfred Wegener was intrigued by the unusual rock structures and the plant and animal fossils found on the matching coastlines of South America and Africa, now widely separated by the Atlantic (USGS).
USGS notes that most known hotspots lie under plate interiors, and gives the African Plate as an example.
African Plate in numbers
Measured from its PB2002 outline, the African Plate covers about 58.5 million km², or 11.5% of the
Earth's surface. That makes it number 2 by area of the 52 plates in the model.
It spans from 55°S to 39°N and from 47°W to 42°E.
Its edge is about 41,815 km long, mostly divergent:
48.6%divergentDivergent boundary. Plates pull away from each other and new crust forms between them. Source (20,322 km)
, 17.6%convergentConvergent boundary. Plates move toward each other and crust is destroyed as one plate dives under another. Source (7,359 km)
and 33.8%transformTransform boundary. Plates slide horizontally past each other. Crust is neither made nor destroyed. Source (14,134 km)
.
Countries whose main landmass sits on this plate: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Rep., Chad, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Dem. Rep. Congo, Egypt, Eq. Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Israel, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Palestine, S. Sudan, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Togo, Tunisia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Countries that straddle a boundary
are listed under the plate that holds the center of their largest landmass.
Along its boundaries it moves a mean 1.8 cm/yr relative to its neighbors, fastest against the Aegean Sea 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 African Plate shares a boundary with 8 plates in PB2002, longest shared edge first.
The longest, about 14,985 km, is with the South American Plate; the shortest, about 703 km, is with the Anatolia Plate.
About 58.5 million km², or 11.5% of the Earth's surface, measured from its PB2002 outline. It ranks 2 of 52 plates by area.
Which plates border the African Plate?
8 plates: South American Plate, Somali Plate, Eurasian Plate, North American Plate, Antarctic Plate, Arabian Plate, Aegean Sea Plate and Anatolia Plate.
What kind of plate boundaries does the African Plate have?
Mostly divergent boundaries. 48.6% divergent, 17.6% convergent, 33.8% transform, of 41,815 km in total.
How fast does the African Plate move?
Relative to its neighbors, a mean 18.2 mm/yr (1.8 cm/yr) along its boundaries in PB2002. The fastest boundary is with the Aegean Sea Plate.
