Tectonic Plates Map Quiz at a Glance
The Earth's outer shell is broken into tectonic plates that move a few centimetres a year. This map shows the 7 major plates, 10 well-known minor plates and 12 famous boundaries between them, from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to the San Andreas Fault. Click any of them to see its name, or play a round: a name appears and you find it on the map. Free, with no sign-up.
- On the map
- 29 plates and boundaries
- Major plates
- 7
- Largest plate
- Pacific Plate
- Speed
- A few cm a year, as fast as fingernails grow
- Kinds of boundary
- Divergent, convergent, transform
- Cost
- Free, no sign-up
How to Play the quiz
- Click any plate or boundary to see its name before you start. The darker shapes are the continents, so you can see where you are.
- Pick a round: Major plates (7), Minor plates (10) or Boundaries (12). A name appears and you click it on the map. Whole map asks all 29.
- Boundaries are thin red lines, so a click on or just beside the line counts. On a phone, a crowded spot opens a magnifier.
- After every answer the right place turns green, so a wrong click still shows you where it is.
The seven major plates
The Pacific Plate is the largest, almost all under the Pacific Ocean. The others are the North American, South American, Eurasian, African, Antarctic and Indo-Australian plates. Many maps split the last into the Indian and Australian plates, which move at slightly different speeds. Between them sit smaller plates such as the Nazca, Cocos, Caribbean, Philippine Sea, Arabian and Juan de Fuca plates.
Three kinds of boundary
Divergent boundaries pull apart and new crust rises in the gap: Mid-Atlantic Ridge, East Pacific Rise, East African Rift, Red Sea Rift. Convergent boundaries push together: where ocean crust dives under another plate it makes a trench and a line of volcanoes, and where two continents meet they fold into mountains (Cascadia Subduction Zone, Aleutian Trench, Peru–Chile Trench, Mariana Trench, Japan Trench, Himalayan collision zone). Transform boundaries slide past each other and cause earthquakes: San Andreas Fault and Alpine Fault.
The Ring of Fire
Around the Pacific, plates dive under one another from New Zealand to Japan, Alaska and the Andes. This Ring of Fire has about three quarters of the world's active volcanoes, and most of its big earthquakes happen there.
The Boundaries in the Quiz
Each boundary with its kind, the plates on either side, and what it is known for.
| # | Boundary | Kind | Plates | Known for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mid-Atlantic Ridge | Divergent | North American and Eurasian; South American and African | Iceland sits on top of it |
| 2 | East Pacific Rise | Divergent | Pacific and Nazca, Pacific and Cocos | The fastest spreading ridge |
| 3 | East African Rift | Divergent | African and Somali | Africa slowly splitting in two |
| 4 | Red Sea Rift | Divergent | African and Arabian | A young ocean opening |
| 5 | San Andreas Fault | Transform | Pacific and North American | California's earthquakes |
| 6 | Cascadia Subduction Zone | Convergent | Juan de Fuca under North American | The Cascade volcanoes, Mount St. Helens |
| 7 | Aleutian Trench | Convergent | Pacific under North American | The Aleutian Islands of Alaska |
| 8 | Peru–Chile Trench | Convergent | Nazca under South American | It raised the Andes |
| 9 | Mariana Trench | Convergent | Pacific under the Philippine Sea side | The deepest point in the ocean, about 10,900 m |
| 10 | Japan Trench | Convergent | Pacific under Okhotsk (North American) | The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake |
| 11 | Himalayan collision zone | Convergent | Indian and Eurasian | The Himalayas and Mount Everest |
| 12 | Alpine Fault | Transform | Australian and Pacific | The Southern Alps of New Zealand |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many tectonic plates are there?
Seven major plates, about eight to ten minor ones, and dozens of microplates; Peter Bird's PB2002 model, used for this map, has 52. This map merges a few microplates into the plates they are usually shown with.
What is the largest tectonic plate?
The Pacific Plate, about 100 million km², almost all of it under the Pacific Ocean.
What are the three types of plate boundary?
Divergent (plates pull apart, as at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge), convergent (plates push together, as at the Himalayas or the Peru–Chile Trench) and transform (plates slide past each other, as at the San Andreas Fault).
Why does Iceland have so many volcanoes?
It sits on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the North American and Eurasian plates pull apart, above a hot spot in the mantle.
Why are the Himalayas so high?
The Indian Plate is still pushing into the Eurasian Plate, and the two continents fold up into the highest mountains on Earth.
Which plate is the United Kingdom on?
The Eurasian Plate. The nearest boundary is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, out past Iceland.
Made by Kashif Sulehria in Lahore, Pakistan. Updated October 31, 2026.