Forming the Coast Range—Ranger Jen’s Oreo Demo
Jennifer Natoli was a seasonal ranger at Redwood National and State Parks in California. In her version of the Oreo® cookie demonstration, the creamy filling is the layers of sediment and basalt on the ocean fl... More
Transform Plate Boundaries—Pinnacles National Park, California
Located near the San Andreas Fault along the boundary of the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, is an excellent example of tectonic plate movement. Some 23 million years ago multiple volcanoes erupted,... More
A Transported Volcanic Landscape—Pinnacles National Park
This subduction zone landscape was later plucked from the edge of the North American Plate and transported nearly 200 miles northwestward along the San Andreas Fault.
Virgin Islands National Park - Public Domain image, National Parks Gal...
Virgin Islands National Park is a sheared-up landscape forming as the Carribean Plate slides eastward past the oceanic part of the North American Plate.
West Coast Tectonic Evolution—20 Million Years Ago
As the mid-ocean ridge separating the Farallon and Pacific Plates entered the subduction zone, the Farallon Plate separated into the Juan de Fuca and Cocos Plates. A transform plate boundary developed where the... More
West Coast Tectonic Evolution—Today
The Cascades are the modern volcanic arc developing where the Juan de Fuca Plate subducts beneath the North American Plate. The Sierra Nevada are the eroded remnants of the volcanic arc developed when the Faral... More
Carribean Tectonic Map - Public domain map
The Virgin Islands are in a broad zone where the landscape is being sheared up as the Carribean Plate slides eastward past the oceanic part of the North American Plate. Active volcanoes of the Lesser Antilles I... More
![West Coast Tectonic Evolution—20 Million Years Ago [2 of 3]](https://cache.getarchive.net/Prod/thumb/cdn2/L3Bob3RvLzIwMTkvMDEvMDEvd2VzdC1jb2FzdC10ZWN0b25pYy1ldm9sdXRpb24yMC1taWxsaW9uLXllYXJzLWFnby0yLW9mLTMtMDdlMjc3LTEwMjQuanBn/40/41/webp "West Coast Tectonic Evolution—20 Million Years Ago [2 of 3]")
West Coast Tectonic Evolution—20 Million Years Ago [2 of 3]
As the mid-ocean ridge separating the Farallon and Pacific Plates entered the subduction zone, the Farallon Plate separated into the Juan de Fuca and Cocos Plates. A transform plate boundary developed where the... More
San Andreas Fault—Point Reyes National Seashore, California
The granite rocks are similar to those found in Yosemite National Park. They formed beneath ancient subduction zone volcanoes, were plucked from the edge of the North American Plate, and transported more than 3... More
NPS Sites along Columbia Plateau – Yellowstone Hotspot Track
Shaded relief map of the Pacific Northwest highlighting National Park Service sites along the Yellowstone Hotspot track. Letters are abbreviations for NPS sites listed near the top of this page. The Yellowstone... More
San Andreas Transform Plate Boundary
he Pacific Plate slides north-northwestward past the North American Plate along the San Andreas Transform Plate Boundary. The San Andreas Fault is responsible for most of the movement in western California, cau... More
Subduction Volcanic Arc—Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
Mount Rainier is a 14,000 foot (4,300 meter) volcano in the Cascade Range developed above the place where the subducting Juan de Fuca Plate reaches sufficient depth to release hot fluids into the overriding Nor... More
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River is carved through rhyolite lava flows from the explosive Yellowstone Supervolcano, forming as the North American Plate, capped by thick continental crust, rides over th... More
![West Coast Tectonic Evolution—Today [3 of 3]](https://cache.getarchive.net/Prod/thumb/cdn2/L3Bob3RvLzIwMTkvMDEvMDEvd2VzdC1jb2FzdC10ZWN0b25pYy1ldm9sdXRpb250b2RheS0zLW9mLTMtNzgxOTZhLTEwMjQuanBn/40/42/webp "West Coast Tectonic Evolution—Today [3 of 3]")
West Coast Tectonic Evolution—Today [3 of 3]
The Cascades are the modern volcanic arc developing where the Juan de Fuca Plate subducts beneath the North American Plate. The Sierra Nevada are the eroded remnants of the volcanic arc developed when the Faral... More
Greater Pacific Northwest—Three Types of Plate Boundaries and a Hotspo...
The Yellowstone Hotspot track is superimposed on other tectonic provinces of the Pacific Northwest. The hotspot first surfaced 17 million years ago as massive outpourings of fluid basalt lava in the Columbia Pl... More