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The North American plate is a tectonic plate containing most of North America, Cuba, the Bahamas, extreme northeastern Asia, and parts of Iceland and the Azores.With an area of 76 million km 2 (29 million sq mi), it is the Earth's second largest tectonic plate, behind the Pacific plate (which borders the plate to the west).
The regional geology of North America usually encompasses the geographic regions of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, the continental United States, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. [1] The parts of the North American Plate that are not occupied by North American countries are usually not discussed as part of the regional geology.
This region can be characterized by transform fault movement, the San Andreas also by transform strike slip movement, and the Cascadia subduction zone by a convergent plate boundary subduction movement. The Gorda plate is subducting, towards N50ºE, under the North American plate at 2.5–3 cm/yr, and is simultaneously converging obliquely ...
This once-active divergent plate boundary became the passive, trailing edge of westward moving North America. In plate tectonic terms, the Atlantic Plain is known as a classic example of a passive continental margin. [20] During the rifting, South America tore away from North America and headed southward.
Tectonic map of Alaska and northwestern Canada showing main faults and historic earthquakes. The Queen Charlotte Fault is an active transform fault that marks the boundary of the North American plate and the Pacific plate. [1] [2] It is Canada's right-lateral strike-slip equivalent to the San Andreas Fault to the south in California. [3]
The Queen Charlotte Fault on the Pacific Northwest coast of North America; The Motagua Fault, which crosses through Guatemala, is a transform boundary between the southern edge of the North American plate and the northern edge of the Caribbean plate. New Zealand's Alpine Fault is another active transform boundary.
Map showing Earth's principal tectonic plates and their boundaries in detail. These plates comprise the bulk of the continents and the Pacific Ocean.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)
Where the plates meet, their relative motion determines the type of plate boundary (or fault): convergent, divergent, or transform. The relative movement of the plates typically ranges from zero to 10 cm annually. [5] Faults tend to be geologically active, experiencing earthquakes, volcanic activity, mountain-building, and oceanic trench formation.