The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Greenland, Cuba, the Bahamas, extreme northeastern Asia, and parts of Iceland and the Azores. It extends eastward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and westward to the Chersky Range in eastern Siberia. The plate includes both continental and oceanic crust. The interior of the main continental landmass includes an extensive granitic core called a craton. Along most of the edges of this craton are fragments of crustal material called terranes, accreted to the craton by tectonic actions over a long span of time. It is thought that much of North America west of the Rocky Mountains is composed of such terranes.
In geology, a graben is a depressed block of the crust of a planet bordered by parallel faults.
In geology, a rift is a linear zone where the lithosphere is being pulled apart and is an example of extensional tectonics.
The Dead Sea Transform (DST) fault system, also sometimes referred to as the Dead Sea Rift, is a series of faults that run from the Maras Triple Junction to the northern end of the Red Sea Rift. The fault system forms the transform boundary between the African Plate to the west and the Arabian Plate to the east. It is a zone of left lateral displacement, signifying the relative motions of the two plates. Both plates are moving in a general north-northeast direction, but the Arabian Plate is moving faster, resulting in the observed left lateral motions along the fault of approximately 107 km. A component of extension is also present in the southern part of the transform, which has contributed to a series of depressions, or pull-apart basins, forming the Gulf of Aqaba, Dead Sea, Sea of Galilee and Hula basins.
The Gulf of Suez Rift is a continental rift zone that was active between the Late Oligocene and the end of the Miocene. It represented a continuation of the Red Sea Rift until break-up occurred in the middle Miocene, with most of the displacement on the newly developed Red Sea spreading centre being accommodated by the Dead Sea Transform. During its brief post-rift history, the deepest part of the remnant rift topography has been filled by the sea, creating the Gulf of Suez.
The Brawley Seismic Zone (BSZ), also known as the Brawley fault zone, is a predominantly extensional tectonic zone that connects the southern terminus of the San Andreas Fault with the Imperial Fault in Southern California. The BSZ is named for the nearby town of Brawley in Imperial County, California, and the seismicity there is characterized by earthquake swarms.
The Cerro Prieto Fault is a transform fault located in far northern Baja California. It runs between the Cerro Prieto spreading center located southwest of Mexicali, and the Wagner Basin, another spreading center which lies under the Gulf of California. These spreading centers are part of the East Pacific Rise, the northern leg of which has formed the Gulf of California by steadily rifting the Baja California Peninsula away from the mainland of Mexico.
Wagner Basin is a submarine depression in the far northern part of the Gulf of California. The basin is currently tectonically active. It is the northernmost underwater depression associated with the East Pacific Rise and is located near the southern end of the Cerro Prieto fault. The depression is a result of subsidence caused by the extensional forces imparted by a spreading center. The Wagner Basin is bounded on its eastern side by the Wagner Fault, a primarily normal fault which dips approximately 60 degrees to the northwest. The western side of the basin is bounded by another normal fault, the Consag Fault which dips in a direction opposite the Wagner Fault. The seabed between these faults is sinking. The basin is linked to the dextral Cerro Prieto Fault at its north end.
The Delfin Basin is a pair of interconnected submarine depressions located on the seabed of the northern Gulf of California. The northernmost of these is called the Upper Delfin Basin while the southernmost is called the Lower Delfin Basin. Both of these features are areas of subsidence caused by extensional forces imparted by a spreading center associated with the East Pacific Rise. The two basins are linked by a short transform fault which was the apparent source of an earthquake of magnitude 5.5 on November 26, 1997.
The Guaymas Fault, named for the city of Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico, is a major right lateral-moving transform fault which runs along the seabed of the Gulf of California. It is an integral part of the Gulf of California Rift Zone, the northern extremity of the East Pacific Rise. The Guaymas Fault runs from the San Pedro Martir Basin located at the southern end of the San Lorenzo Fault, and extends southward to the Guaymas Basin, a heavily sedimented rift which includes both continental and oceanic crust and contains numerous hydrothermal vents.
The Gulf of California Rift Zone (GCRZ) is the northernmost extension of the East Pacific Rise which extends some 1,300 km (800 mi) from the mouth of the Gulf of California to the southern terminus of the San Andreas Fault at the Salton Sink.
The Tamayo Fault is a major right lateral-moving transform fault located on the seabed at the mouth of the Gulf of California. The fault is the southernmost transform in the Gulf of California Rift Zone. The fault links the Rivera Ridge segment of the East Pacific Rise in the south with the Alarcon Basin in the north.
The Alarcon Basin is a submarine depression located on the seabed at the southern end of the Gulf of California. The basin results from the activity of the southernmost spreading center in the Gulf. This spreading center has also produced the southernmost oceanic rift in the Gulf of California Rift Zone, the Alarcon Rise. The basin and rise are linked to the Tamayo Fault to the south, and the Pescadero Fault in the north.
The Carmen Fault is a right lateral-moving transform fault located on the seafloor of the southern Gulf of California. It links the Guaymas Basin to the north with the Carmen Basin to the south. All these features are part of the Gulf of California Rift Zone, the northern extension of the East Pacific Rise.
The Farallon Fault is a right lateral-moving transform fault located on the seafloor of the southern Gulf of California. It links the Carmen Basin to the north with the Farallon Basin to the south. All these features are part of the Gulf of California Rift Zone, the northern extension of the East Pacific Rise.
The Pescadero Fault is a right lateral-moving transform fault located on the seafloor of the southern Gulf of California. It links the Pescadero Basin to the north with the Alarcon Basin to the south. All these features are part of the Gulf of California Rift Zone, the northern extension of the East Pacific Rise.
A half-graben is a geological structure bounded by a fault along one side of its boundaries, unlike a full graben where a depressed block of land is bordered by parallel faults.
A transfer zone in geology is an area where deformational strain is transferred from one structural element to another typically from fault to fault in rift systems. Therefore, listric faults and monoclinal folds in the hanging wall are typical structures linked by transfer zones; however, complexities do exist. The terms interbasin and intrabasin transfer zones have been proposed to delineate the magnitude of the transfer zone. Transfer zones can be described according to the fault dip directions; synthetic or conjugate and according to their deformation style; convergent or divergent. Transfer zones can be farther identified by its maturity or ; whether the major fault relationship is approaching, overlapping, collateral or collinear. Since transfer zones are normally found in extensional settings many studies have been done within the East African rift system and the Gulf of Suez rift system. Transfer zones have also played a role in hydrocarbon exploration and extraction within the Albertine graben.
The Gulf of Corinth is an active extensional marine sedimentary basin thought to have started deforming during the late Miocene – Pleistocene epoch. The dimensions of the Gulf of Corinth are approximately 105 km long and 30 km wide with a basement depth of 3 km at its center. This half graben basin is formed by a N100°E-oriented rift which separates the Peloponnese peninsula from the continental mainland of Greece. Currently the Gulf's rift is opening at rate of 10–15 mm/yr, with respect to the Eurasia Plate. The basin is bounded by the Peloponnese highlands to the south and the westward-moving Anatolian Fault to the north. Major and minor fault planes make up the north and south margins, and its north-south extension is due to activity along a E-W to NW-SE oriented coastal southern margin. The basin's active and inactive faults create associated syn-rift sediment fill. These aspects provide a unique opportunity for scientists to study the tectonic and stratigraphic development of a rift, while further understanding how a basin is actually made.
