tectonic boundary

Scientific  

1. In the theory of plate tectonics, a boundary between two or more plates. The plates can be moving toward each other (at convergent plate boundaries), away from each other (at divergent plate boundaries), or past each other (at transform faults). Maps of seismic and volcanic activity across the Earth indicate that most earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur along or near tectonic boundaries. This is because earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are caused by the scraping, pushing, pulling, and melting of the Earth's lithosphere along these boundaries.

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Example Sentences

But the Hawaiian Islands are 2,000 miles from the nearest tectonic boundary, and their existence puzzled geologists for centuries.

From New York Times

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

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 Nature

It occurred on a subduction zone, a tectonic boundary or fault where the seafloor is being forced under the North American continent.

From Seattle Times

The Santa Monica fault, along with offshore faults as well as the Hollywood fault and the Raymond fault, which extends east into Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley, form a major tectonic boundary in Southern California between the Santa Monica Mountains to the north and the Los Angeles Basin to the south.

From Los Angeles Times