African Plate terminology
In PB2002, Africa and Somalia are separate regions. The western African region is often called the Nubian Plate in regional research; a broad classroom label of African Plate may combine both.
BOUNDARIES
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Plate colours identify regions, not risk.
The Somali Plate and East African Rift
The East African Rift separates the Nubian and Somali regions through a wide, branching deformation zone. Smaller blocks occur within the system, so it is more complex than one clean crack.
Boundaries around Africa
African plate boundaries include Atlantic spreading ridges, the Red Sea system and convergence toward the Mediterranean. These edges extend far beyond the outline of the African continent.
Sources and map method
Plate outlines use Peter Bird's PB2002 model, distributed by Nordpil under the Open Data Commons Attribution licence. Coastlines and country outlines are Natural Earth public-domain data. Boundary detail is limited by the source model.
- Bird (2003): PB2002 plate boundary model
- USGS: East Africa and the Afar triple junction
- USGS: Aegean and eastern Mediterranean tectonic context
- Map dataset sources and licences
- PB2002 geometry and licence
- Natural Earth terms
Country lookup compares simplified land outlines with the plate model. Boundaries and historical coastlines are modelled features. This atlas explains geography; it does not predict earthquakes or provide site-specific hazard estimates.