Cocos Plate
Cocos Plate | |
---|---|
Type | Minor |
Approximate area | 2,900,000 km2[1] |
Movement1 | north-east |
Speed1 | 67 mm/year |
Features | Cocos Island, Pacific Ocean |
1Relative to the African Plate |
The Cocos Plate is a young oceanic
The only land above water on the Cocos Plate is Cocos Island, which is administered by Costa Rica and lies approximately 550 km (342 mi; 297 nmi) southwest of the Costa Rican mainland.
Geology
The Cocos Plate was created by
The northern boundary of the Cocos Plate is the
A
The Rivera Plate north of the Cocos Plate is thought to have separated from the Cocos Plate 5–10 million years ago. The boundary between the two plates appears to lack a definite transform fault, yet they are regarded as distinct. After its separation from the Cocos Plate, the Rivera Plate started acting as an independent microplate.[2]
The devastating 1985 Mexico City earthquake and the 2017 Chiapas earthquake were results of the subduction of the Cocos Plate beneath the North American Plate. The devastating El Salvador earthquakes in January 2001 and February 2001 were generated by the subduction of this plate beneath the Caribbean Plate.
References
- ^ "Here are the Sizes of Tectonic or Lithospheric Plates". Archived from the original on 2007-02-09. Retrieved 2015-05-05.
- ^ ]
- ^ Paul J. Grim, "Connection of the Panama fracture zone with the Galapagos rift zone, eastern tropical Pacific".
External links
- The volcanic arc
- Martin Meschede and Udo Barckhausen, "Plate tectonic evolution of the Cocos-Nazca plate": reconstructing its geological evolution