Plate Boundary Interactions

By Emma Roberts
Explorer Ridge
Mid-ocean ridge
Separates The Explorer Plate and Juan de Fuca Plate
located off the west coast of North America
Contains Magic Mountain, a large active hydrothermal
vent area
Contains a large rift valley, rift marks the
actual boundary next to tectonic plates

Magic Mountain, Thermal imaging
Rift Valley
Cascadia subduction zone
Tectonic processes active in the Cascadia
subduction zone cause volcanism such as
Mt.St Helens in 1980
the Pacific Ocean has been sinking beneath
the continent for about 200 million years
Travels at a rate of 40 mm/yr

Mt.St Helens erupting in 1980
Cascadia subduction zone
The fault is a 1,000 Km long
Located from northern Vancouver Island
to northern California
Convergent plate boundary
Separates the Juan de Fuca and North America plates
Rock type




Work Sited
http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/vents/explorer_site.html
http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/04fire/background/
volcanism/volcanism.html
http://www.pnsn.org/outreach/earthquakesources/csz