High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Cimmerian Plate is an ancient tectonic plate that comprises parts of present-day Anatolia, Iran, Afghanistan, Tibet, Indochina and Malaya regions. The Cimmerian Plate was formerly part of the ancient supercontinent of Pangaea. Pangaea was shaped like a vast "C", facing east, and inside of the "C" was the Paleo-Tethys Ocean. Two microcontinents, which are part of present-day China, lay in the eastern expanse of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean. About 300 Mya (million years ago), a rift started opening from the east which split a long, thin arc off of the inside of the southern arm of the continent, which comprised present day Australia, Antarctica, India, and Africa-Arabia. This micro-continent has been named Cimmeria. Behind this new micro-continent the rift formed a new ocean, the Tethys Ocean. As the Tethys Ocean widened, it pushed Cimmeria and the floor of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean northward towards Laurasia, the northeastern arm of Pangaea.