The plate beyond Antarctica
Antarctica occupies only part of its plate. Much of the plate is ocean floor extending toward the neighbouring Pacific, Australian, African and South American regions.
BOUNDARIES
Loading the atlas...
Plate colours identify regions, not risk.
Open a South Pole view
Spreading ridges around the plate
Spreading ridges form much of the surrounding boundary network. Near the Antarctic Peninsula, the Scotia region adds smaller plates and a more complicated margin.
Reading a polar view
All longitudes meet at the South Pole. A flat world map stretches polar geography, so apparent shape and distance near Antarctica need careful interpretation.
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.
- USGS: This Dynamic Planet
- USGS: Earthquakes in Antarctica
- 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.