Australian Plate

Australian Plate
Type	Major
Approximate area	47,000,000 km2 (18,000,000 sq mi)[1]
Movement1	northeast
Speed1	62–70 mm/year
Features	Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Indian Ocean
1Relative to the African Plate

The Australian Plate is a major tectonic plate in the eastern and, largely, southern hemispheres. Originally a part of the ancient continent of Gondwana, Australia remained connected to India and Antarctica until approximately 100 million years ago when India broke away and began moving north. Australia and Antarctica had begun rifting by 96 million years ago^[2] and completely separated a while after this, some believing as recently as 45 million years ago,^[3] but most accepting presently that this had occurred by 60 million years ago.^[4]

The Australian plate later fused with the adjacent Indian Plate beneath the Indian Ocean to form a single Indo-Australian Plate. However, recent studies suggest that the two plates have once again split apart and have been separate plates for at least 3 million years and likely longer.^[5] The Australian Plate includes the continent of Australia, including Tasmania, as well as portions of New Guinea, New Zealand and the Indian Ocean basin.