Oceanic tectonic plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean basin
Nazca Plate
Type
Minor
Approximate area
15,600,000 km2[1]
Movement1
north-east
Speed1
40-53 mm/year
Features
Pacific Ocean
1Relative to the African Plate
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The Nazca Plate or Nasca Plate,[2] named after the Nazca region of southern Peru, is an oceanic tectonic plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean basin off the west coast of South America. The ongoing subduction, along the Peru–Chile Trench, of the Nazca Plate under the South American Plate is largely responsible for the Andean orogeny. The Nazca Plate is bounded on the west by the Pacific Plate and to the south by the Antarctic Plate through the East Pacific Rise and the Chile Rise respectively. The movement of the Nazca Plate over several hotspots has created some volcanic islands as well as east–west running seamount chains that subduct under South America. Nazca is a relatively young plate both in terms of the age of its rocks and its existence as an independent plate having been formed from the break-up of the Farallon Plate about 23 million years ago. The oldest rocks of the plate are about 50 million years old.[3]
^"Sizes of Tectonic or Lithospheric Plates". About.com Geology. Archived from the original on 9 February 2007. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
^Oxford Atlas Of The World 26th Ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 2019. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-19-006581-2.
^Dutch, Steven (10 August 2009). "Sea Floor Spreading in the Pacific (Plate Boundaries Shown)". University of Wisconsin - Green Bay. Archived from the original on 17 March 2010.
The NazcaPlate or Nasca Plate, named after the Nazca region of southern Peru, is an oceanic tectonic plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean basin off the...
The Cocos Plate was created approximately 23 million years ago when the Farallon Plate broke into two pieces, which also created the NazcaPlate. The Cocos...
the Antarctic Plate, the Scotia Plate, and the Sandwich Plate; the westerly edge is a convergent boundary with the subducting NazcaPlate; and the northerly...
– 2,900,000 km2 Indian Plate – Minor plate that separated from Gondwana – 11,900,000 km2 NazcaPlate – Oceanic tectonic plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean...
South American Plate at the Peru–Chile Trench. Just north of the NazcaPlate, the oceanic Cocos Plate subducts under the Caribbean Plate and forms the...
Fuca plates, subducting under the northern part of the North American Plate; the Cocos Plate subducting under Central America; and the NazcaPlate subducting...
Antarctic Plate is bounded almost entirely by extensional mid-ocean ridge systems. The adjoining plates are the NazcaPlate, the South American Plate, the...
divergent plate boundary between the NazcaPlate and the Antarctic Plate. It extends from the triple junction of the Nazca, Pacific, and Antarctic plates to...
The Nazca Ridge is a submarine ridge, located on the NazcaPlate off the west coast of South America. This plate and ridge are currently subducting under...
American Plate along the San Andreas Fault, and a boundary with the Cocos Plate. The south-eastern side is a divergent boundary with the NazcaPlate forming...
tectonic plate processes, caused by the subduction of oceanic crust beneath the South American Plate as the NazcaPlate and South American Plate converge...
coast of Chile. Here three tectonic plates meet: the South American Plate, the NazcaPlate and the Antarctic Plate. This triple junction is unusual in...
in area, the Caribbean Plate borders the North American Plate, the South American Plate, the NazcaPlate and the Cocos Plate. These borders are regions...
its surrounding plates. The Panama Plate is located between the Cocos Plate and the NazcaPlate to the south and the Caribbean Plate to the north. Most...
fingernails grow), to about 160 mm/year for the NazcaPlate (about as fast as hair grows). Tectonic lithosphere plates consist of lithospheric mantle overlain...
faster moving South American Plate and the NazcaPlate to the southwest. Due to the subduction of the Coiba and Malpelo plates, this area is very prone to...
between the Nazca and South American tectonic plates is located near the Peruvian coast. The South American Plate is moving over the NazcaPlate at a rate...
sometimes associated with Oceania. The Galápagos Islands lie on the NazcaPlate and are thought of as part of Oceania because of their geographical distance...
America in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, bordering the NazcaPlate to the east and the Pacific Plate to the west. It was discovered from looking at earthquake...
formed as a result of subduction of the NazcaPlate and Antarctic Plate underneath the South American Plate. The belt is subdivided into four main volcanic...
tectonic plate under the Pacific Ocean Molucca Sea Plate – Small fully subducted tectonic plate near Indonesia NazcaPlate – Oceanic tectonic plate in the...
(north to south) the North American Plate, the Rivera Plate, the Cocos Plate, the NazcaPlate, and the Antarctic Plate. It runs south from the Gulf of California...
sections of the Nazca-Antarctic Plate boundary. The East Pacific Rise includes the Pacific-Antarctic Rise (Pacific Plate and Antarctic Plate boundary) in...
emerged part of the plate. It is bounded on the west by the Cocos Plate, on the south by the NazcaPlate, on the east by the North Andes Plate, and on the north...
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