The Journey of Earth

The African Plate was the center of Pangea around 200 million years ago. Because of this, all of the other plates have moved away from African creating divergent boundaries on three of the sides. It shares a convergent boundary with the Eurasian plate, subducting below the it. It is one of the major plates and includes not only the continent of Africa but a lot of the Atlantic and Indian ocean. There has been some speculation amongst the scientists on whether or not the African plate actually consists of two plates, or whether or not it is one plate that is breaking apart. However, it has shown that the African plate continues to break apart as the plates move farther away from this central plate.

 

Notable Features:

• East African Rift: A portion of the crust that continues to stretch. This has caused a deep valley close to the Red Sea.