Amur Plate
The Amur Plate is the 13th-largest of the 52 plates in the PB2002 plate model, covering 5.3 million km² (2.0 million sq mi), or 1.0% of Earth’s surface. Northeastern China, the Korean Peninsula, southwestern Japan and part of the Russian Far East.
- Area
- 5.3 million km² (2.0 million sq mi)
- Share of Earth’s surface
- 1.0%
- Speed across the plate
- 3.1 to 3.4 cm a year (1.2 to 1.3 in)
- Direction at its center
- Toward the east-southeast
- Length of its edges
- 10,620 km (6,600 mi)
- Neighboring plates
- 5
- Edges by type
- 35% convergent · 41% divergent · 24% transform
- Volcanoes on it
- 23 active in the past ~12,000 years
What happens at its edges
Satellite positioning showed this region moves slightly differently from the rest of Eurasia, so the model treats it as its own plate; many maps include it in the Eurasian Plate.
The Philippine Sea Plate sinks beneath its edge off southwestern Japan along the Nankai Trough. In this model it meets the Okhotsk Plate in central Japan.
How fast it moves, and which way
At its center (46.1°N, 125.6°E) the Amur Plate moves about 3.3 cm (1.3 in) a year toward the east-southeast. Because a plate turns around a pole rather than sliding in a straight line, the speed changes across it: from 3.1 cm (1.2 in) a year to 3.4 cm (1.3 in) a year, with an area-weighted average of 3.3 cm a year. That average makes it the 32nd fastest of the 52 plates.
These figures are measured against the average motion of all the plates together (the “no-net-rotation” frame), which is how plate speeds are usually quoted. Measured against the Eurasian Plate instead, the Amur Plate moves about 1.0 cm (0.4 in) a year toward the east-southeast at its center.
In the model it rotates about a pole at 43.3°N, 99.0°W at 0.302° per million years. The speeds are averages over years to millions of years of measurement; earthquakes move the ground near a boundary in sudden steps instead.
Neighboring plates and boundaries
Its edges run for 10,620 km (6,600 mi): 35% convergent, where plates move together; 41% divergent, where they move apart; and 24% transform, where they slide past each other. The Philippine Sea Plate sinks beneath it.
| Neighbor | Shared edge | Boundary types | Relative speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eurasian Plate | 6,590 km (4,090 mi) | Divergent 61% · Transform 29% · Convergent 10% | 1.0 cm a yearup to 1.0 cm |
| Okhotsk Plate | 2,300 km (1,430 mi) | Convergent 100% | 0.8 cm a yearup to 0.9 cm |
| Philippine Sea Plate | 760 km (470 mi) | Convergent 100% | 5.0 cm a yearup to 5.6 cm |
| Yangtze Plate | 590 km (370 mi) | Transform 100% | 0.4 cm a yearup to 0.4 cm |
| Okinawa Plate | 380 km (240 mi) | Divergent 100% | 1.1 cm a yearup to 1.7 cm |
Relative speed is how fast the two plates move against each other along their shared edge, averaged over its length.
Countries and territories on the Amur Plate
Each of these is split between plates. The share is the part of each country’s land on this plate.
- Russia about 10%
- China about 16%
- Mongolia about 33%
- Japan about 42%
- North Korea about 91%
- South Korea about 99%
Volcanoes on the Amur Plate
The Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program lists 23 volcanoes on this plate that have been active in roughly the past 12,000 years. The most recent eruptions on record:
Where the edges are blurred
Parts of this plate lie in the Persia-Tibet-Burma zone, which the model marks as broad belts of deformation rather than sharp plate edges. There the motion between plates is spread over many faults, and a single boundary line is a simplification.
Sources
Outline, area, boundary types and motion: Bird, P. (2003), An updated digital model of plate boundaries, Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, 4(3), 1027, doi:10.1029/2001GC000252. Released by its author into the public domain (CC0 1.0). Areas are the model’s published figures; speeds, directions, boundary lengths and countries are calculated from its outlines, boundary steps and rotation poles.
Volcanoes: Global Volcanism Program, Smithsonian Institution, Volcanoes of the World (v. 5.4.0). Country outlines: Natural Earth.