Puerto Rico Trench

E688

geological formation oceanic trench subduction zone

The Puerto Rico Trench is a deep oceanic trench in the western Atlantic, marking the boundary between the Caribbean and North American tectonic plates and containing the region’s greatest ocean depths.

Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

Observed surface forms (2)

Surface form	Occurrences
Puerto Rico Deep	1
Puerto Rico Trench system	1

Statements (44)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	geological formation ⓘ oceanic trench ⓘ subduction zone ⓘ
alsoKnownAs	Puerto Rico Trench ⓘ surface form: Puerto Rico Deep
associatedWith	earthquake activity ⓘ tsunami hazard ⓘ
bathymetryCharacter	narrow ⓘ steep-sided ⓘ
contains	Brownson Deep ⓘ Milwaukee Deep ⓘ
countryExclusiveEconomicZone	Dominican Republic ⓘ United States of America ⓘ surface form: United States
deepestPointIn	Atlantic Ocean ⓘ Caribbean ⓘ surface form: Caribbean region
depthRanking	one of the deepest ocean trenches on Earth ⓘ
discoveredBy	early 20th century soundings ⓘ
featureOf	plate boundary zone between Caribbean and North American plates ⓘ
geohazardInterest	potential source of large tsunamis in the Caribbean ⓘ
geologicalProcess	subduction of North American Plate beneath Caribbean Plate ⓘ
hazardTo	Caribbean coastal communities ⓘ
length	about 497 miles ⓘ about 800 km ⓘ
locatedIn	Atlantic Ocean ⓘ surface form: North Atlantic Ocean Atlantic Ocean ⓘ surface form: western Atlantic Ocean
maximumDepth	about 27500 ft ⓘ about 8376 m ⓘ
namedAfter	Puerto Rico ⓘ
nearestLand	Dominican Republic ⓘ Puerto Rico ⓘ
oceanBasin	North American Plate ⓘ surface form: North American Basin
oceanRegion	northeastern Caribbean Sea margin ⓘ
orientation	east–west ⓘ
partOf	Atlantic Ocean ⓘ
plateMotion	oblique convergence between North American and Caribbean plates ⓘ
region	north of Hispaniola ⓘ north of Puerto Rico ⓘ
researchInterest	seismic risk assessment ⓘ subduction dynamics ⓘ
sedimentSource	Caribbean and North Atlantic margins ⓘ
separates	Caribbean Plate ⓘ North American Plate ⓘ
studiedBy	geophysicists ⓘ oceanographers ⓘ
tectonicSetting	convergent plate boundary ⓘ

Referenced by (11)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Puerto Rico Trench → alsoKnownAs → Puerto Rico Trench ⓘ

this entity surface form: Puerto Rico Deep

Caribbean Plate → associatedWithFeature → Puerto Rico Trench ⓘ

Milwaukee Deep → featureOf → Puerto Rico Trench ⓘ

Atlantic Ocean → hasDeepestPoint → Puerto Rico Trench ⓘ

North American plate boundary system → hasPart → Puerto Rico Trench ⓘ

Brownson Deep → isDeepestPointOf → Puerto Rico Trench ⓘ

Brownson Deep → locatedIn → Puerto Rico Trench ⓘ

Milwaukee Deep → locatedIn → Puerto Rico Trench ⓘ

Brownson Deep → partOf → Puerto Rico Trench ⓘ

this entity surface form: Puerto Rico Trench system

Milwaukee Deep → partOf → Puerto Rico Trench ⓘ

USS Milwaukee → partOf → Puerto Rico Trench ⓘ

subject surface form: Milwaukee Deep