The Timor Plate is a small tectonic microplate in Southeast Asia that underlies the island of Timor and nearby islets, forming an independent crustal block within a tightly interleaved regional plate system. Its southern margin is dominated by a subduction interface where the Australian Plate dives beneath Timor, a convergent contact responsible for north‑directed convergence, crustal shortening, uplift, development of accretionary prisms and heightened seismic hazard along the island’s southern edge. To the north, convergence with the Banda Sea Plate produces compressional deformation—folding, thrust faulting and orogenic construction—that further shapes Timor’s relief. The eastern boundary is extensional, accommodating plate separation through rifting and localized crustal thinning that can be regarded as an incipient form of seafloor spreading at a small scale. In contrast, the western margin is controlled by a strike‑slip transform system that produces lateral displacement of crustal blocks and concentrates seismicity on horizontal fault strands. Together, these adjacent subduction, collision, extensional and transform regimes create a complex tectonic setting that explains the island’s active deformation, heterogeneous topography and pronounced geological and seismic activity.