Posted on 11/23/2016 11:45:55 AM PST by JimSEA
I had forgotten a lot of the details, I was sure there was more than one plate involved in Japan but couldn’t remember which ones.
Lots of activity there though, one of the most active spots in the world.
The west coast has far less compressional force on it, essentially just the east edge of the spreading centers of the Juan de fuca, Explorer and Gorda plates and the mostly subducted Nazca, all producing the fractional melting facilitating the cascade volcanoes. Of course it gets big earthquakes, but geologically speaking it’s the slacker side of the ring of fire.
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