Anatolian Plate
The Anatolian Plate is the 25th-largest of the 52 plates in the PB2002 plate model, covering 576,000 km² (222,000 sq mi), or 0.1% of Earth’s surface. Most of Turkey and Cyprus.
- Area
- 576,000 km² (222,000 sq mi)
- Share of Earth’s surface
- 0.1%
- Speed across the plate
- 0.0 to 2.4 cm a year (0.0 to 1.0 in)
- Direction at its center
- Toward the north-northeast
- Length of its edges
- 3,350 km (2,080 mi)
- Neighboring plates
- 4
- Edges by type
- 23% convergent · 23% divergent · 54% transform
- Volcanoes on it
- 3 active in the past ~12,000 years
What happens at its edges
Squeezed between the Arabian and Eurasian plates, it is moving west relative to Eurasia. It slides past Eurasia along the North Anatolian Fault, the source of the 1999 İzmit earthquake, and past the Arabian Plate along the East Anatolian Fault, which ruptured in February 2023.
In the west it meets the Aegean Sea Plate, and in the south the African Plate, which sinks beneath it south of Cyprus.
How fast it moves, and which way
At its center (38.2°N, 32.9°E) the Anatolian Plate moves about 1.2 cm (0.5 in) a year toward the north-northeast. Because a plate turns around a pole rather than sliding in a straight line, the speed changes across it: from 0.0 cm (0.0 in) a year to 2.4 cm (1.0 in) a year, with an area-weighted average of 1.2 cm a year. That average makes it the 50th 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 Anatolian Plate moves about 1.8 cm (0.7 in) a year toward the west at its center.
In the model it rotates about a pole at 40.7°N, 27.4°E at 1.204° 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 3,350 km (2,080 mi): 23% convergent, where plates move together; 23% divergent, where they move apart; and 54% transform, where they slide past each other. The African Plate sinks beneath it.
| Neighbor | Shared edge | Boundary types | Relative speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eurasian Plate | 1,400 km (870 mi) | Transform 90% · Divergent 10% | 2.4 cm a yearup to 2.6 cm |
| African Plate | 700 km (440 mi) | Convergent 68% · Transform 32% | 1.4 cm a yearup to 1.8 cm |
| Aegean Sea Plate | 670 km (420 mi) | Divergent 83% · Transform 17% | 1.5 cm a yearup to 1.9 cm |
| Arabian Plate | 570 km (360 mi) | Convergent 52% · Transform 34% · Divergent 14% | 1.6 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 Anatolian Plate
One lies entirely on it; the other one is split between plates. The share is the part of each country’s land on this plate.
- Turkey about 59%
- Cyprus all
Volcanoes on the Anatolian Plate
The Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program lists 3 volcanoes on this plate that have been active in roughly the past 12,000 years. The most recent eruptions on record:
- Erciyes Volcanic Complex Türkiye, about 6,880 BCE
Where the edges are blurred
Parts of this plate lie in the Alps 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.