These four diagrams illustrate the shrinking of the formerly very large Farallon Plate, as it was progressively consumed beneath the North American and Caribbean Plates, leaving only the present-day Juan de Fuca, Rivera, and Cocos Plates as small remnants (see text). Large solid arrows show the present-day sense of relative movement between the Pacific and North American Plates. (Modified from USGS Professional Paper 1515).
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URL: https://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/Farallon.html
Last updated: 05.05.99
Contact: bhanks@usgs.gov