Pacific Plate

[ puh-sif-ik pleyt ]

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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Pacific Plate¹

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

Colossal geological forces collided: the Pacific Plate, the North American Plate and the Farralon Plate.

From The Daily Beast