SOUTH AMERICAN PLATE Definition & Meaning

South American Plate

noun

Geology.

a major tectonic division of the earth's crust, comprising the continent of South America and several ocean basins and bounded on the north by the Caribbean Plate, on the east by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, on the west by a submarine trench that borders the western coast of the continent, and on the south by the Antarctic Plate.

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The epicentre of the earthquake was located 35km off the coast of Casma and Chimbote on the Pacific Ocean, where the Nazca Plate meets the South American Plate.

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Both quakes were caused by the Nazca plate subducting beneath the South American plate.

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Earthquakes in the Nazca plate happen up to 650km deep, though most of the large ones occur in the upper 70km, where the crust of the South American plate is actively being deformed by the collision and the two plates slide past each other.

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Chile is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries because just off the coast the Nazca tectonic plate plunges beneath the South American plate, pushing the towering Andes cordillera to ever-higher altitudes.

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I analyzed the surface fault pattern in Northern Chile to correlate it with geophysical and seismic data along this section of the South American plate boundary.”

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