The Pacific Ocean Floor Has Which Plates

As the magma and lava cool at seafloor spreading centers whatever magnetic field is present get ingrained into the rock.

The pacific ocean floor has which plates.

Bathymetry the shape of the ocean floor is largely a result of a process called plate tectonics the outer rocky layer of the earth includes about a dozen large sections called tectonic plates that are arranged like a spherical jig saw puzzle floating on top of the earth s hot flowing mantle. Every so often it has occurred over 170 times over the past 100 million years the poles will suddenly switch. The largest one the pacific plate is moving north west relative to the plate that holds north america and relative to hot spots coming up through the mantle from below the plates they generate islands like hawaii. The pacific plate contains an interior hot spot forming the hawaiian islands.

The pacific plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the pacific ocean at 103 million km 2 40 million sq mi it is the largest tectonic plate. New hebrides plate minor tectonic plate in the pacific ocean near vanuatu 1 100 000 km 2. The pacific ocean floor shown in rainbow colors according to age continues to grow along the east pacific rise. The slowest spreading ridge is the gakkel ridge on the arctic ocean floor which spreads at less than 2 5 cm year 1 in year while the fastest the east pacific rise near easter island has a spreading rate of over 15 cm year 6 in year.

For purposes of this list a microplate is any plate with an area less than 1 million km 2. Plate tectonics and the ocean floor. Hillis and müller are reported to consider the bird s head plate to be moving in unison with the pacific plate. Only in the last 30 million years has the northeast part of the east.

The nazca cocos and juan de fuca plates are the remnants of the farallon plate. On the surface of the earth nothing can move along a straight. The floor of the pacific ocean is divided into several plates. The big island of hawaii reaches elevations of nearly 14 000 feet 4 300 meters above sea level.

The international expedition drilled into the pacific ocean floor and found distinctive rocks formed when the pacific tectonic plate changed direction and began to plunge under the philippine sea. The increase in volume of mantle material at a hotspot causes the pacific ocean floor to elevate as the pacific plate moves over the hawaiian hotspot. This tectonic plate hosts the ring of fire an area on the floor of the pacific ocean where volcanic activity and earthquakes are most active. In addition a huge amount of volcanic material erupts onto the seafloor above the hotspot.

North american plate 75 900 000 sq km the north american plate is the world s second largest tectonic plate. Bird considers them to be unconnected. Notice how the east pacific rise generally stays near the center of the ocean.