Nazca plate
Topic: Continental Drift, Sea-floor Spreading and Plate Tectonics · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 4 "Distribution of Oceans and Continents"
Meaning
The Nazca plate is a minor plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It lies between South America and the Pacific plate. It is made of ocean crust, which is heavier than continental crust. So where it meets South America, it sinks under the South American plate. This sinking is called subduction. It forms the deep Peru-Chile Trench, pushed up the Andes and causes frequent strong earthquakes along the coast.
Example
Off the coast of Chile, the Nazca plate sinks along the Peru-Chile Trench. This boundary produced the Chile earthquake of 1960 (Mw 9.5). It is the largest earthquake ever recorded.
Don't confuse with
- Cocos plate: also a minor plate on the Pacific side, but it lies off Central America, not South America.
- Pacific plate: a major plate that lies to the west of the Nazca plate. The Nazca plate is not part of it.