Indo-Australian Plate

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Indo-Australian Plate

The Indo-Australian Plate is a major tectonic plate

Tectonic Plate

#REDIRECT Plate tectonics...
that includes the continent of Australia

Australia (continent)

Australia Sahul is the smallest of the geographic continents, though not of geological continents. There is no universally accepted definition of the word "continent"; the lay definition is "One of the main continuous bodies of land on the earth's surface." ....
and surrounding ocean

Ocean

An ocean is a major body of Seawater, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a World Ocean that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas....
, and extends northwest to include the Indian subcontinent

Indian subcontinent

The Indian subcontinent is a large section of the Asian continent consisting of the land lying substantially on the Indian Plate. The subcontinent includes parts of various countries in South Asia, including those on the continental crust , an Island#Continental islands country on the continental shelf , and an Island#Oceanic islands countr...
and adjacent waters. Recent studies suggest that the Indo-Australian Plate may be in the process of breaking up into two separate plates due primarily to stresses induced by the collision of the Indo-Australian Plate with Eurasia along the Himalayas.

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Origins

Depositional age of the Mount Barren Group on the southern margin of the Yilgarn Craton

Yilgarn craton

The Yilgarn Craton is a large craton which constitutes the bulk of the Western Australian land mass. It is bounded by a mixture of sedimentary basins and Proterozoic fold and thrust belts....
and zircon

Zircon

Zircon is a mineral belonging to the group of Silicate minerals. Its chemical name is zirconium silicate and its corresponding chemical formula is ZirconiumSiliconOxygen4....
provenance analysis support the hypothesis that collisions between the Pilbara–Yilgarn

Yilgarn craton

Craton

A craton is an old and stable part of the continental crust that has survived the merging and splitting of continents and supercontinents for at least 500 million years....
s assembled a proto-Australian continent approximately 1696±7 Ma (Dawson et al. 2002).

Geographical extent

India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
, Meganesia

Australia (continent)

Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the List of islands by area, having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded after the last glacial period....
, and Tasmania

Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island and States and territories of Australia of the same name. It is located south of the eastern side of the continent, being separated from it by Bass Strait....
), New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
, and New Caledonia

New Caledonia

New Caledonia , is a "sui generis collectivity" of France located in the subregion of Melanesia in the Oceania. It comprises a main island , the Loyalty Islands, and several smaller islands....
are all fragments of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana

Gondwana

Gondwana , originally Gondwanaland is the name given to a southern precursor-supercontinent and then as a remnant separated from Laurasia 180- during the breakup of the Pangaea supercontinent that existed about 500 to 200 Annum ago into two large segments.. Seafloor spreading

Seafloor spreading

Seafloor spreading occurs at mid-ocean ridges, where new oceanic crust is formed through volcano and then gradually moves away from the ridge....
separated these land masses from one another, but as the spreading centers became inactive they fused into a single plate.

Recent GPS measurement in Australia confirms the plate's movement as being 35 degrees east of north with a velocity of 67 mm/yr. Note also the same directions and velocities for points at Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area or Greater Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban areas of New Zealand with over 1.3 million residents, percent of the country's population....
, Christmas Island

Christmas Island

The Territory of Christmas Island is a Territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. It is located northwest of the Western Australian city of Perth, Western Australia, south of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and ENE of the Cocos Islands....
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

Pacific Plate

The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean.To the north the easterly side is a divergent boundary with the Explorer Plate, the Juan de Fuca Plate and the Gorda Plate forming respectively the Explorer Ridge, the Juan de Fuca Ridge and the Gorda Ridge....
.

The southeasterly side is a complex but generally convergent boundary

Convergent boundary

In plate tectonics, a convergent boundary or convergent plate boundary, also known as a destructive plate boundary , is an actively deforming region where two tectonic plates or fragments of lithosphere move toward one another and collide....
with the Pacific Plate. The Pacific Plate subducting under the Australian Plate forms the Tonga

Tonga Trench

The Tonga Trench is located in the Pacific Ocean and is 10,882 meters deep at its deepest point, known as the Horizon Deep.The trench lies at the northern end of the Kermadec-Tonga Subduction Zone, an active subduction zone where the Pacific Plate is being subduction zone below the Tonga Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate....
and Kermadec Trench

Kermadec Trench

The Kermadec trench is one of Earth's deepest oceanic trenches, reaching a depth of 10,047 m. Formed by the subduction of the Pacific Plate under the Indo-Australian Plate, it runs over a thousand kilometres parallel with and to the east of the Kermadec Ridge and island arc, from near the northeastern tip of New Zealand's North Island to the...
es, and the parallel Tonga

Tonga

The Kingdom of Tonga in the south Pacific Ocean comprises an archipelago of 171 islands, 48 of them inhabited, stretching over a distance of about 800 kilometres in a north-south line....
and Kermadec

Kermadec Islands

The Kermadec Islands are an island arc in the South Pacific Ocean. The islands have been part of New Zealand since 1887.The islands lie within 29? to 31.5? south latitude and 178? to 179? west longitude, 800 – 1000 km northeast of New Zealand's North Island, and a similar distance southwest of Tonga....
island arcs. It has also uplifted the eastern parts of New Zealand's North Island

North Island

The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, the other being the South Island. The island is 113,729 square km in area, making it the List of islands by area....
.

The continent of Zealandia

Zealandia (continent)

Zealandia , also known as Tasmantis or the New Zealand continent, is a nearly submerged continent or microcontinent that sank after breaking away from Antarctica between 85 and 130 million years ago, and then from Australia 60-85 million years ago....
, which separated from Australia 85 million years ago and stretches from New Caledonia

New Caledonia

New Zealand sub-antarctic islands

The five southernmost groups of the New Zealand Outlying Islands form the New Zealand Sub-Antarctic islands. These islands are all UNESCO World Heritage Sites....
in the south, is now being torn apart along the transform boundary marked by the Alpine Fault

Alpine Fault

The Alpine Fault is a geological fault, known as a right-lateral strike-slip fault, that runs almost the entire length of New Zealand's South Island....
.

South of New Zealand the boundary becomes a transitional transform-convergent boundary, the Macquarie Fault Zone

Macquarie Fault Zone

The Macquarie Fault Zone is a major right lateral-moving transform fault along the seafloor of the south Pacific Ocean which runs from New Zealand southwestward to the Macquarie Triple Junction....
, where the Australian Plate is beginning to subduct under the Pacific Plate along the Puysegur Trench

Puysegur trench

The 6,000 m deep Puysegur Trench is formed by the subduction of the Australian plate under the Pacific plate to the south of New Zealand. The Puysegur trench mirrors the Kermadec Trench and Tonga Trench north of New Zealand....
. Extending southwest of this trench is the Macquarie Ridge.

The southerly side is a divergent boundary

Divergent boundary

In plate tectonics, a divergent boundary or divergent plate boundary is a linear feature that exists between two List of tectonic plates that are moving away from each other....
with the Antarctic Plate

Antarctic Plate

The Antarctic Plate is a tectonic plate covering the continent of Antarctica and extending outward under the surrounding oceans. The Antarctic Plate has a boundary with the Nazca Plate, the South American Plate, the African Plate, the Indo-Australian Plate, the Scotia Plate and a divergent boundary with the Pacific Plate forming the Pacific...
called the Southeast Indian Ridge

Southeast Indian Ridge

The Southeast Indian Ridge is a divergent tectonic plate boundary located along the seafloor of the southern Indian Ocean. It separates the Indo-Australian Plate to the north from the Antarctic Plate to the south....
(SEIR). The westerly side is a transform boundary with the Arabian Plate

Arabian Plate

The Arabian Plate is one of three tectonic plates which have been moving northward over millions of years toward an inevitable collision with Eurasia....
called the Owen Fracture Zone

Owen Fracture Zone

The Owen Fracture Zone is a transform fault which runs along the eastern boundary of the Arabian Plate, separating it from the Indo-Australian Plate for most of its length, and from the African Plate for a much shorter distance....
, and a divergent boundary with the African Plate

African Plate

The African Plate is a tectonic plate which includes the continent of Africa, as well as oceanic crust which lies between the continent and various surrounding ocean ridges....
called the Central Indian Ridge

Central Indian Ridge

The Central Indian Ridge is a divergent tectonic plate boundary between the African Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate, traversing the western regions of the Indian Ocean....
(CIR). The northerly side of the Indo-Australian Plate is a convergent boundary with the Eurasian Plate

Eurasian Plate

The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate which includes most of the continent of Eurasia , with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent, and the area east of the Chersky Range in East Siberia....
forming the Himalaya and Hindu Kush

Hindu Kush

The Hindu Kush is a mountain range located in eastern and central Afghanistan, northwestern Pakistan and northeastern India.The origin of the name Hindu Kush is disputed, despite its coinage apparently dating back no further than c.1330....
mountain

Mountain

A mountain is a landform that stretches above the surrounding land in a limited area usually in the form of a peak. A mountain is generally steeper than a hill....
s.

The northeast side of the Indo-Australian plate forms a subducting boundary with the Eurasian plate on the borders of the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
from Bangladesh

Bangladesh

, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south....
, to Myanmar

Myanmar

Burma, officially the Union of Myanmar, is the largest country by geographical area in mainland Southeast Asia, or Indochina. The country is bordered by the People's Republic of China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, and the Bay of Bengal to the southwest with...
(formerly Burma) to the south-west of Indonesia

Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia , is a transcontinental country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Comprising Islands of Indonesia, it is the world's largest Archipelago state....
n islands of Sumatra

Sumatra

Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the list of islands by area in the world ....
and Borneo

Borneo

Borneo is the List of islands by area and is located at the centre of Maritime Southeast Asia. Administratively, this island is divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei....
.

The subducting boundary through Indonesia is not parallel to the biogeographical

Biogeography

Biogeography is the study of the distribution of biodiversity over space and time. It aims to reveal where organisms live, and at what abundance....
Wallace line

Wallace Line

The Wallace Line is a boundary that separates the Ecozone of Asia and Wallacea . West of the line are found organisms related to Asiatic species; to the east, a mixture of species of Asian and Australian origin are present....
that separates the indigenous fauna of Asia from that of Australasia

Australasia

Australasia is a region of Oceania: New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes ....
: the Eastern islands of Indonesia lie mainly on the Eurasian Plate

Eurasian Plate