The South American plate, shown in purple

The South American Plate is a tectonic plate covering the continent of South America and extending eastward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... The tectonic plates of the world were mapped in the second half of the 20th century. ... Animated, colour-coded map showing the various continents. ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... Courtesy USGS The ridge was central in the breakup of Pangaea that began some 180 million years ago. ...

The easterly side is a divergent boundary with the African Plate forming the southern part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The southerly side is a complex boundary with the Antarctic Plate and the Scotia Plate. The westerly side is a convergent boundary with the subducting Nazca Plate. The northerly side is a boundary with the Caribbean Plate. In plate tectonics, a divergent boundary (divergent fault boundary or divergent plate boundary), (but also known as a constructive boundary or an extensional boundary) is a linear feature that exists between two tectonic plates that are moving away from each other. ...  The African plate, shown in pinkish-orange The African Plate is a tectonic plate covering the continent of Africa and extending westward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. ... Courtesy USGS The ridge was central in the breakup of Pangaea that began some 180 million years ago. ... The Antarctic plate is shown in blue on this map The Antarctic Plate is a continental tectonic plate covering the continent of Antarctica and extending outward under the surrounding oceans. ...  The Scotia plate, shown in blue-green towards the bottom of the map The Scotia Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate bordering the South American Plate on the north, the South Sandwich microplate to the east, and the Antarctic Plate on the south and west. ... In plate tectonics, a convergent boundary (convergent fault boundary, convergent plate boundary, or active margin) is where two tectonic plates slide towards each other and usually collide forming either a subduction zone with its associated island arc or an orogenic belt and associated mountain range. ...  The Nacza plate, shown in light blue The Nazca Plate, named after the Nazca region of southern Peru, is an oceanic tectonic plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean basin off the west coast of South America. ... Detail of tectonic plates from: Tectonic plates of the world. ...

The remains of the Farallon Plate, split into the current Cocos Plate and Nazca Plate are still subducting under the western edge of the South American Plate. This subduction is responsible for lifting the massive Andes Mountains and causing the volcanos which are strewn throughout them. There is some speculation that in addition to subducting the Cocos and Nazca Plates, the westward motion of the South American Plate may have forced the Caribbean and Scotia Plates at its northern and southern ends respectively to squeeze around it. Both share a similar shape and are being subducted along their eastern boundary. They are thought to be ancient volcanic regions formed on the Farallon Plate, with their crust too thick to be subducted under the South American Plate. The Farallon Plate is an ancient tectonic plate which began subducting as Pangaea broke apart during the Jurassic period. ...  The Cocos plate, shown in gray-blue, off the Pacific coast of Central America The Cocos Plate (Chocos Plate) is an oceanic tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Central America, named for Cocos Island, which rides upon it. ...  The Nacza plate, shown in light blue The Nazca Plate, named after the Nazca region of southern Peru, is an oceanic tectonic plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean basin off the west coast of South America. ...

There is evidence that South American plate continues to move northwards at a very slow rate.[1]