South America
What tectonic plate is Uruguay on?
Uruguay sits entirely on the South American Plate.
- Plates
- 1
- M6.5+ quakes since 1900
- 0
- Holocene volcanoes
- 0
- Land area
- 177,561 km²
Plates under Uruguay
Share of Uruguay's land area on each plate (PB2002 model, Natural Earth outlines).
Plate boundaries
No plate boundary crosses Uruguay itself, so it sits in the stable interior of the South American Plate.
Earthquakes in Uruguay
The USGS catalog has no earthquake of magnitude 6.5 or more centered in or just off Uruguay since 1900. Smaller quakes still happen, and distant large ones can be felt.
Volcanoes in Uruguay
Uruguay has no volcanoes that have erupted in the last 12,000 years, according to the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program.
Frequently asked questions
What tectonic plate is Uruguay on?
Uruguay sits entirely on the South American Plate.
Is Uruguay on a plate boundary?
No plate boundary crosses Uruguay itself, so it sits in the stable interior of the South American Plate.
Does Uruguay get earthquakes?
The USGS catalog has no earthquake of magnitude 6.5 or more centered in or just off Uruguay since 1900. Smaller quakes still happen, and distant large ones can be felt.
Are there volcanoes in Uruguay?
Uruguay has no volcanoes that have erupted in the last 12,000 years, according to the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program.