Juan de Fuca Plate

The Juan de Fuca plate is a small lithospheric plate, which is named after the Greek navigator Juan de Fuca. It is located west between the Pacific Plate and the North American plate of the U.S. state of Oregon in the sea.

The western boundary is formed by the Juan de Fuca Ridge, where rising magma leads to seafloor spreading. The eastern boundary is characterized by a subduction zone, the Cascadia subduction zone, causing the Cascade Range on the North American continental plate is formed.

The Juan de Fuca plate is part of a once much larger Farallon plate. Other parts are the north of the Juan de Fuca plate adjacent Explorer plate and the adjacent south Gorda plate. The Explorer Plate broke off to about 4 million years of the Juan de Fuca plate, 18 bis 5 million years ago, the same happened with the Gorda plate. The Cocos and the southern Nazca plate are also remnants of the former Farallon plate.

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