| Aegean Sea plate | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Micro |
| Movement1 | south-west |
| Speed1 | 37 mm/year |
| Features | Greece, Turkey, Aegean Sea |
| 1Relative to the African plate | |
The Aegean Sea plate (also called the Hellenic plate or Aegean plate) is a small tectonic plate located in the eastern Mediterranean Sea under southern Greece and western Turkey. Its southern edge is the Hellenic subduction zone south of Crete, where the African plate is being swept under the Aegean Sea plate.[1] Its northern margin is a divergent boundary with the Eurasian plate.
The seafloor in this region is about 350 m below sea level, while the adjacent Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea are 1300–1500 m deep. For this reason it is considered a high plateau between the seas.[2] Evidence suggests the Aegean plate contains thinned continental crust, rather than oceanic crust. Since its creation the crust has been thinned through various processes, including post-orogenic collapse and crustal extension. This extension is responsible for the formation of the Gulf of Corinth.[3][4]
Previous observations of the region's motion described the crust under the Aegean Sea as a part of the Anatolian plate, and the different directions of motion were explained as the plate rotating counterclockwise. Further measurements found that motion of the Aegean region differed from the previous model, so the two plates are now considered distinct from each other.[5]
- ^ Meier, T et al. (2007) "A Model for the Hellenic Subduction Zone in the area of Crete based on seismological investigations" pp. 194–195 In Taymaz, Tuncay and Dilek, Yildirim (eds.) (2007) The Geodynamics of the Aegean and Anatolia Geological Society, London, pp. 183–200, ISBN 978-1-86239-239-7
- ^ Sodoudi, Forough (2005). Lithospheric structure of the Aegean obtained from P and S receiver functions. Potsdam Geoforschungszentrum Potsdam. OCLC 179835425.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:0was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
:1was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Simonelli, Glenn. "Tectonics of the Aegean/Anatolian region" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-09-18.