What is the direction of motion of the North American plate?

southwest
Plate motion For the most part, the North American Plate moves in roughly a southwest direction away from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at a rate of about 2.3 centimeters (~1 inch) per year. At the same time, the Pacific Plate is moving to the northwest at a speed of between 7 and 11 centimeters (~3-4 inches) a year.

Is the North American plate moving in a straight line?

Is the North American plate moving in a straight line? The North American and Eurasian Plates are moving away from each other along the line of the Mid Atlantic Ridge. The Ridge extends into the South Atlantic Ocean between the South American and African Plates.

What plate boundary is North America on?

The San Andreas transform boundary between the Pacific and North American plate originates from the shallow, oblique subduction by the North American plate of the Monterey microplate (a fragment of the Farallon plate sharing a spreading ridge with the Pacific plate) (Nicholson, 1994).

Which direction has the North American plate moved over the hot spot?

Actually, the source of the hotspot is more or less stationary at depth within the Earth, and the North America plate moves southwest across it. The average rate of movement of the plate in the Yellowstone area for the last 16.5 million years has been about 4.6 centimeters (1.8 inches) per year.

Which direction is the South American Plate moving?

Image descriptions

Which direction is the North American Plate and African plate moving what type of plate boundary?

divergent boundary
Boundaries. The western edge of the African Plate is a divergent boundary with the North American Plate to the north and the South American Plate to the south which forms the central and southern part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

What direction is the South American plate moving?

Is the Pacific Plate under the North American Plate?

The Pacific Plate is being moved north west due to sea floor spreading from the East Pacific Rise (divergent margin) in the Gulf of California. The North American Plate is being pushed west and north west due to sea floor spreading from the Mid Atlantic Ridge (divergent margin).

Is the North American Plate divergent?

The North American Plate has a transform boundary with the Pacific Plate, dividing California at the San Andreas Fault. The two plates move apart from each other at this divergent boundary. As they pull apart, the mantle material beneath rises to create new crust on the ocean floor.

Is the North American Plate convergent or divergent?

Near Alaska, the North American Plate meets the Pacific Plate in a convergent boundary, meaning the plates are coming together. Here, the Pacific Plate sinks under the North American Plate in a process called subduction. As the Pacific Plate subducts, some pieces of the crust scrape off onto the North American Plate.

Is the South American Plate divergent?

The South American Plate is the smallest major plate But the eastern edge lies in the Atlantic Ocean at a divergent plate boundary. Along the African Plate boundary, these two plate boundaries pull apart from each other. This diverging plate motion creates some of the youngest oceanic crust on the planet.

What direction is the Antarctic plate moving?