Pacific Plate

American  

[puh-sif-ik pleyt] / pəˈsɪf ɪk ˈpleɪt /

noun

Geology.

1. one of the major tectonic divisions of the earth's crust, comprising four seafloor basins: separated from the Nazca, Cocos, North American, and South American Plates by the East Pacific Rise and San Andreas Fault and bounded in the western Pacific Ocean by a series of major ocean deeps, including the Kuril, Japan, Mariana, Kermadec, and Tonga Trenches.

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Etymology

Origin of Pacific Plate

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

They identified three primary sources for this ancient water: the Philippine Sea Plate, the Pacific Plate, and ancient seafloor sediments, particularly in the Niigata and southwest Gunma regions.

From Science Daily • Jan. 9, 2024

And he’s astute in explaining the science: the crust of the Pacific Plate pushing under the North American Plate.

From New York Times • Mar. 24, 2020

The San Andreas fault, which forms the tectonic boundary between Earth’s Pacific Plate and North American Plate, for example, varies in width from metres to a kilometre—too narrow to show up in Magellan topographic data.

From Scientific American • Jun. 12, 2019

The tremors occurred at the Pacific Ocean-floor ridge that separates the Juan de Fuca Plate and its western neighbor, the Pacific Plate.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 22, 2018

There, the Pacific Plate slides beneath the North American Plate in what’s known as a subduction fault.

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland