Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
These are also known as compressional or destructive boundaries. Obduction zones occurs when the continental plate is pushed under the oceanic plate, but this is unusual as the relative densities of the tectonic plates favours subduction of the oceanic plate. This causes the oceanic plate to buckle and usually results in a new mid-ocean ridge ...
A convergent boundary (also known as a destructive boundary) is an area on Earth where two or more lithospheric plates collide. One plate eventually slides beneath the other, a process known as subduction. The subduction zone can be defined by a plane where many earthquakes occur, called the Wadati–Benioff zone. [1]
For purposes of this list, a major plate is any plate with an area greater than 20 million km 2 (7.7 million sq mi) African plate – Tectonic plate underlying Africa – 61,300,000 km 2 (23,700,000 sq mi) Antarctic plate – Major tectonic plate containing Antarctica and the surrounding ocean floor – 60,900,000 km 2 (23,500,000 sq mi)
The location where two plates meet is called a plate boundary. Plate boundaries are where geological events occur, such as earthquakes and the creation of topographic features such as mountains, volcanoes, mid-ocean ridges, and oceanic trenches. The vast majority of the world's active volcanoes occur along plate boundaries, with the Pacific ...
Comparison of recent and historic earthquakes by energy release. Megathrust earthquakes are large seismic events that take place along convergent plate boundaries, particularly at subduction zones. Examples of subduction zones include the Sumatra and Java trenches, Nankai Trough and Peru–Chile Trench which are frequent sources of these ...
Associated earthquakes Sources Aedipsos-Kandili Fault: 60: North Euboean Gulf, Greece: Normal: Active: Alaska–Aleutian megathrust: 4000: Kamchatka, Russia to Gulf of Alaska: Subduction zone: Active: 1964 Prince William Sound (M9.2), 1965 Rat Islands (M8.7), 1957 Andreanof Islands (M8.6) [1] Alpine Fault: 600 South Island, New Zealand: Dextral ...
Earthquakes in Vanuatu are frequent and are sometimes accompanied by tsunami, though these events are not often destructive. The archipelago, which was formerly known as New Hebrides , lies atop a complex and active plate boundary in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.
Megathrust earthquakes occur at convergent plate boundaries, where one tectonic plate is forced underneath another. The earthquakes are caused by slip along the thrust fault that forms the contact between the two plates. These interplate earthquakes are the planet's most powerful, with moment magnitudes (M w) that can exceed 9.0.