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Crust,i.e. upper most layer of Earth is fragmanted.Each fragment is called aPLATE.Plate is also called Tectonic Plate.
On Earth, there are seven or eight major plates (depending on how they are defined) and many minor plates.
There are 3 types of plates.
Primary plates
These seven plates comprise the bulk of the continents and thePacific Ocean.
- African Plate
- Antarctic Plate
- Eurasian Plate
- Indo-Australian Plate
- North American Plate
- Pacific Plate
- South American Plate
Secondary plates
These smaller plates are generally not shown on major plate maps with the exception of the Arabian and Indian plates, as they do not comprise significant land area.
- Arabian Plate
- Caribbean Plate
- Cocos Plate
- Indian Plate
- Juan de Fuca Plate
- Nazca Plate
- Philippine Sea Plate
- Scotia Plate
Tertiary plates
Tertiary plates are grouped with the major plate that they would otherwise be shown as part of on a major plate map. Mostly these are tiny microplates, although in the case of the Nubian-Somalian and Australian-Capricorn-Indian plates these are major plates that are rifting apart.