Land Feature Paper
COMM/110
Land Feature Paper
The theory of plate tectonics is a theory of the earths tectonics in the lithosphere divide into a number of crustal plates. Each of these plates moves in the plastic asthenosphere to collide, slide under, or move past other plates.
The Cocos Plate was created by sea floor spreading along the East Pacific Rise and the Cocos Ridge. From the rise the Cocos plate, it has pushed eastward and pushed or dragged under the less dense overriding Caribbean Plate. This plate tectonic process is known as subduction. The subducted leading edge heats up and adds its water to the mantle. This mantle layer is called the asthenosphere. The mantle rock melts to make magma trapping superheated water under great pressure. This caused the northeast of the subduction edge to make a continuous arc of volcanos. This stretch of volcanoes is known as the Central America Volcanic Arc. The Central American Volcanic Arc, stretching from Costa Rica Guatemala and has a belt of earthquakes that extends farther into north Mexico.
The Cocos Plate has had various geological events occur over the years that have created trenches, ridges, faults, and fractures zones. Examples of these various geological events are Middle America Trench, Panama Fracture Zone, Farallon Plate, The Rivera Plate, the earthquake in Mexico City, and the earthquake of El Salvador. The northern boundary of the Cocos Plate is the Middle America Trench. The eastern boundary is a transform fault known as the Panama Fracture Zone. Another boundary is the southern boundary; it is a mid-oceanic ridge which is known as the Galapagos Rise. Also the western boundary is another mid-ocean ridge this is called the East Pacific Rise. The Cocos and Nazca Plates are the remnants of the former Farallon Plate. The Farallon Plate was breaking up about million years ago by a hotspot under the Galapagos Islands lies. The Rivera Plate which...