Middle America Trench
E55075
The Middle America Trench is a major oceanic trench in the eastern Pacific off the coasts of Central America, where an oceanic plate descends beneath the adjacent continental margin, generating frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity.
Observed surface forms (2)
| Surface form | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Central America Trench | 1 |
| Middle American Trench | 1 |
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
oceanic trench
ⓘ
subduction zone ⓘ tectonic feature ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs |
Middle America Trench
ⓘ
surface form:
Middle American Trench
|
| associatedWith |
Central American Volcanic Arc
ⓘ
frequent earthquakes ⓘ volcanic activity ⓘ |
| beneath |
Caribbean Plate
ⓘ
North American Plate ⓘ |
| causes | megathrust earthquakes ⓘ |
| extendsAlongCoastOf |
Costa Rica
ⓘ
El Salvador NERFINISHED ⓘ Guatemala NERFINISHED ⓘ Nicaragua NERFINISHED ⓘ Panama ⓘ |
| featureOf | Earth's lithosphere ⓘ |
| formedBySubductionOf |
Cocos Plate
ⓘ
Rivera Plate ⓘ |
| geologicalAge | Cenozoic ⓘ |
| geologicalProcess | oceanic-continental subduction ⓘ |
| hasProcess |
crustal recycling
ⓘ
sediment accretion ⓘ |
| influences |
Central American seismicity
ⓘ
Central American volcanism ⓘ |
| isBoundaryBetween | Cocos Plate and overriding plates ⓘ |
| isSourceRegionFor |
interplate earthquakes
ⓘ
intraslab earthquakes ⓘ |
| lengthApprox | ~2750 km ⓘ |
| locatedIn | eastern Pacific Ocean ⓘ |
| locatedOffCoastOf |
Central America
ⓘ
Mexico ⓘ |
| maximumDepthApprox |
~6.6 km
ⓘ
~6600 m ⓘ |
| near |
Central United States
ⓘ
surface form:
Middle America
|
| ocean | Pacific Ocean ⓘ |
| orientation | northwest–southeast ⓘ |
| parallelTo | Central American coastline ⓘ |
| partOf | Pacific Ring of Fire ⓘ |
| region |
Central United States
ⓘ
surface form:
Middle America
|
| relatedHazard | tsunamis ⓘ |
| separates |
Cocos Plate from Caribbean Plate
ⓘ
Cocos Plate from North American Plate ⓘ |
| studiedInDiscipline |
marine geology
ⓘ
plate tectonics ⓘ |
| tectonicSetting | convergent plate boundary ⓘ |
| typeOfSubduction | oceanic plate beneath continental margin ⓘ |
Referenced by (13)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Middle American Trench
this entity surface form:
Central America Trench