The Rivera Plate is a small

tectonic plate Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large te ...

(a microplate) located off the west coast of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, just south of the Baja California Peninsula. It is bounded on the northwest by the

East Pacific Rise The East Pacific Rise is a mid-ocean rise (termed an oceanic rise and not a mid-ocean ridge due to its higher rate of spreading that results in less elevation increase and more regular terrain), a divergent tectonic plate boundary located along ...

, on the southwest by the

Rivera Transform Fault The Rivera Transform Fault, also referred to as the Rivera Fracture Zone, is a right lateral-moving (dextral) transform fault which lies along the seafloor of the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Mexico just south of the mouth of the Gulf of Cali ...

, on the southeast by a deformation zone, and on the northeast by the

Middle America Trench The Middle America Trench is a major subduction zone, an oceanic trench in the eastern Pacific Ocean off the southwestern coast of Middle America, stretching from central Mexico to Costa Rica. The trench is 1,700 miles (2,750 km) long an ...

and another deformation zone. The Rivera Plate is believed to have separated from the

Cocos Plate The Cocos Plate is a young oceanic tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Central America, named for Cocos Island, which rides upon it. The Cocos Plate was created approximately 23 million years ago when the Farallon Plate ...

located to its southeast about 5–10 million years ago. Seismicity and tomography images show that the Rivera plate dips at 40° beneath the forearc region and then dips ~70° beneath the

Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt ( es, Eje Volcánico Transversal), also known as the Transvolcanic Belt and locally as the (''Snowy Mountain Range''), is an active volcanic belt that covers central-southern Mexico. Several of its highest peaks h ...

. The subduction of the Rivera Plate under the North American Plate, in the Mid-American Trench, has been the cause of the strongest earthquakes in the history of Mexico, including the largest earthquake in Mexico during the 20th century which occurred on June 3, 1932 in the state of Jalisco. The quake had a magnitude of 8.2 with a magnitude 7.8 aftershock, both of which caused widespread casualties and damage. On October 9, 1995, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake occurred beneath the Jalisco region and caused significant loss of life and property. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake occurred on January 24, 2003 near

Colima Colima (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Colima ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Colima), is one of the 31 states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It shares its name with its capital and ...

in Mexico.

References

* *
C. DeMets, I. Carmichael, T. Melbourne, O. Sanchez, J. Stock, G. Suarez, and K. Hudnut, ''Anticipating the Successor to Mexico's Largest Historical Earthquake,'' Earth in Space, Vol. 8, No. 5, January 1996, p.6.
*
Yang et al. 2009, ''Seismic structure beneath the Rivera subduction zone from finite-frequency seismic tomography,'' Solid Earth, Volume 114, Issue B1, Pages 1–12
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rivera Plate Tectonic plates Geology of Mexico Geology of Central America Geology of the Pacific Ocean Pacific Coast of Mexico

See also

References