<p>They don't really share a plate, now they did for a long time and the boundary between them is rather recent but they are separate plates.</p>

<p>BUT this was only discovered recently, <a href="https://phys.org/news/2012-09-sumatra-quake-crustal-plate-breakup.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">recently</a> as in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature11520" rel="nofollow noreferrer">2012</a>, so older references treat them as the same plate.  The "indo" in indo-australian plate is being dropped from more modern references. </p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/Zk5Nj.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/Zk5Nj.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>The two plates are moving in almost the exact same direction and speed, so it is easy to see why it took so long to be discovered. Almost is also the key, the forces separating them up is rather weak, tectonically speaking, without a lot of heavy volcanics so the separation is very slow. Now they were not tightly connected to begin with, so there is no continental fault between them. Spreading centers </p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/A9pBx.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/A9pBx.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-24T17:32:29.393Z
2019-03-24T17:42:44.343Z
2019-03-24T17:42:44.343Z
John
<p>So on a lot of maps of tectonic plates, it appears that India and Australia share a tectonic plate (hence the Indo-Australian plate). But in maps of Pangaea, India and Australia appear to have once shared a border. Since continents only move because the plates they sit on move, how is it that India and Australia have changed relative positions if they share a plate? </p>

<p>I've looked around a lot online and I can't seem to find a specific reason, and my science teachers weren't much help either. Supposedly they once sat on separate plates, and diverged from each other, with a mid ocean ridge spewing out sea floor between them. If this is the case, how did they fuse together? Also, I believe that Australia is currently moving towards India as well. Do convection currents change direction?</p>

<plate-tectonics>
How did Australia separate from India?
Clement Luong
# How did Australia separate from India?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-08-03)

So on a lot of maps of tectonic plates, it appears that India and Australia share a tectonic plate (hence the Indo-Australian plate). But in maps of Pangaea, India and Australia appear to have once shared a border. Since continents only move because the plates they sit on move, how is it that India and Australia have changed relative positions if they share a plate?

I've looked around a lot online and I can't seem to find a specific reason, and my science teachers weren't much help either. Supposedly they once sat on separate plates, and diverged from each other, with a mid ocean ridge spewing out sea floor between them. If this is the case, how did they fuse together? Also, I believe that Australia is currently moving towards India as well. Do convection currents change direction?

**Tags:** plate-tectonics


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-03-24. Score: 2

They don't really share a plate, now they did for a long time and the boundary between them is rather recent but they are separate plates.

BUT this was only discovered recently, [recently](https://phys.org/news/2012-09-sumatra-quake-crustal-plate-breakup.html) as in [2012](https://www.nature.com/articles/nature11520), so older references treat them as the same plate. The "indo" in indo-australian plate is being dropped from more modern references.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/Zk5Nj.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/Zk5Nj.png)

The two plates are moving in almost the exact same direction and speed, so it is easy to see why it took so long to be discovered. Almost is also the key, the forces separating them up is rather weak, tectonically speaking, without a lot of heavy volcanics so the separation is very slow. Now they were not tightly connected to begin with, so there is no continental fault between them. Spreading centers

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/A9pBx.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/A9pBx.jpg)


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