Yangtze Plate
The Yangtze Plate is the 18th-largest of the 52 plates in the PB2002 plate model, covering 2.2 million km² (0.9 million sq mi), or 0.4% of Earth’s surface. Southern and eastern China, including the Yangtze basin, with Hong Kong and Macau.
- Area
- 2.2 million km² (0.9 million sq mi)
- Share of Earth’s surface
- 0.4%
- Speed across the plate
- 3.6 to 4.1 cm a year (1.4 to 1.6 in)
- Direction at its center
- Toward the east-southeast
- Length of its edges
- 7,130 km (4,430 mi)
- Neighboring plates
- 5
- Edges by type
- 18% convergent · 51% divergent · 31% transform
- Volcanoes on it
- 2 active in the past ~12,000 years
What happens at its edges
Also called the South China Block. Satellite positioning shows it moves slightly differently from the rest of Eurasia, so the model treats it as a plate; most maps include it in the Eurasian Plate.
To the east it meets the Okinawa and Philippine Sea plates near Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands.
How fast it moves, and which way
At its center (27.2°N, 116.2°E) the Yangtze Plate moves about 3.9 cm (1.5 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 3.6 cm (1.4 in) a year to 4.1 cm (1.6 in) a year, with an area-weighted average of 3.9 cm a year. That average makes it the 29th 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 Yangtze Plate moves about 1.4 cm (0.6 in) a year toward the east-southeast at its center.
In the model it rotates about a pole at 66.2°N, 151.3°W at 0.386° 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 7,130 km (4,430 mi): 18% convergent, where plates move together; 51% divergent, where they move apart; and 31% transform, where they slide past each other.
| Neighbor | Shared edge | Boundary types | Relative speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eurasian Plate | 3,790 km (2,360 mi) | Divergent 65% · Transform 23% · Convergent 12% | 1.4 cm a yearup to 1.7 cm |
| Okinawa Plate | 1,410 km (880 mi) | Divergent 76% · Transform 15% · Convergent 9% | 3.4 cm a yearup to 5.5 cm |
| Sunda Plate | 910 km (560 mi) | Transform 53% · Convergent 37% · Divergent 10% | 1.5 cm a yearup to 1.5 cm |
| Amur Plate | 590 km (370 mi) | Transform 100% | 0.4 cm a yearup to 0.4 cm |
| Philippine Sea Plate | 440 km (270 mi) | Convergent 91% · Transform 9% | 8.4 cm a yearup to 8.6 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 Yangtze Plate
2 lie entirely on it; the other 2 are split between plates. The share is the part of each country’s land on this plate.
- China about 15%
- Taiwan about 28%
- Hong Kong all
- Macao all
Volcanoes on the Yangtze Plate
The Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program lists 2 volcanoes on this plate that have been active in roughly the past 12,000 years. The most recent eruptions on record:
- Kueishantao Taiwan, 1853
- Tatun Volcanic Group Taiwan, 648
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.