Philippine Sea Plate
The Philippine Sea Plate is the 12th-largest of the 52 plates in the PB2002 plate model, covering 5.4 million km² (2.1 million sq mi), or 1.1% of Earth’s surface. The floor of the Philippine Sea, between southern Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines, with much of Taiwan in this model.
- Area
- 5.4 million km² (2.1 million sq mi)
- Share of Earth’s surface
- 1.1%
- Speed across the plate
- 0.9 to 6.9 cm a year (0.4 to 2.7 in)
- Direction at its center
- Toward the west-northwest
- Length of its edges
- 11,280 km (7,010 mi)
- Neighboring plates
- 9
- Edges by type
- 71% convergent · 19% divergent · 10% transform
- Volcanoes on it
- 31 active in the past ~12,000 years
What happens at its edges
It is almost entirely ocean floor and is bordered by subduction zones on nearly every side. It sinks beneath southwestern Japan along the Nankai Trough and beneath the Philippines, while the Pacific Plate sinks beneath its own eastern edge along the Izu–Bonin arc.
Its collision with the Eurasian margin is lifting the mountains of Taiwan. Off Japan it meets the Pacific, Okhotsk and Amur plates.
How fast it moves, and which way
At its center (18.3°N, 133.5°E) the Philippine Sea Plate moves about 4.1 cm (1.6 in) a year toward the west-northwest. Because a plate turns around a pole rather than sliding in a straight line, the speed changes across it: from 0.9 cm (0.4 in) a year to 6.9 cm (2.7 in) a year, with an area-weighted average of 4.1 cm a year. That average makes it the 26th 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 Philippine Sea Plate moves about 6.5 cm (2.6 in) a year toward the west-northwest at its center.
In the model it rotates about a pole at 38.7°S, 35.8°W at 0.960° 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 11,280 km (7,010 mi): 71% convergent, where plates move together; 19% divergent, where they move apart; and 10% transform, where they slide past each other. It sinks beneath the Sunda Plate, Okinawa Plate, Amur Plate and Bird’s Head Plate at subduction zones. The Sunda Plate and Pacific Plate sink beneath it.
| Neighbor | Shared edge | Boundary types | Relative speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunda Plate | 2,880 km (1,790 mi) | Convergent 78% · Transform 22% | 10.0 cm a yearup to 10.8 cm |
| Pacific Plate | 1,820 km (1,130 mi) | Convergent 100% | 4.2 cm a yearup to 6.1 cm |
| Mariana Plate | 1,680 km (1,050 mi) | Divergent 86% · Transform 14% | 3.1 cm a yearup to 5.6 cm |
| Okinawa Plate | 1,590 km (990 mi) | Convergent 90% · Transform 10% | 10.3 cm a yearup to 13.5 cm |
| Caroline Plate | 1,400 km (870 mi) | Divergent 54% · Convergent 46% | 0.4 cm a yearup to 0.8 cm |
| Amur Plate | 760 km (470 mi) | Convergent 100% | 5.0 cm a yearup to 5.6 cm |
| Yangtze Plate | 440 km (270 mi) | Convergent 91% · Transform 9% | 8.4 cm a yearup to 8.6 cm |
| Bird’s Head Plate | 390 km (240 mi) | Convergent 100% | 1.8 cm a yearup to 2.2 cm |
| Okhotsk Plate | 310 km (190 mi) | Convergent 85% · Transform 15% | 3.5 cm a yearup to 3.6 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 Philippine Sea Plate
One lies entirely on it; the other 3 are split between plates. The share is the part of each country’s land on this plate.
- Philippines about 19%
- Taiwan about 70%
- Japan under 1%
- Palau all
Volcanoes on the Philippine Sea Plate
The Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program lists 31 volcanoes on this plate that have been active in roughly the past 12,000 years. The most recent eruptions on record:
- Ioto Japan, 2025
- Nishinoshima Japan, 2023
- Kaitoku Seamount Japan, 2023
- Funka Asane Japan, 2022
- Fukutoku-Oka-no-Ba Japan, 2021
- Miyakejima Japan, 2010
Where the edges are blurred
Parts of this plate lie in the Philippines 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.