page_title: Gorda Ridge
section_title: Spreading rate
hierarchical_section_title: Gorda Ridge / Spreading rate
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of the Juan de Fuca Plate.
context_page_description: The Gorda Ridge, aka Gorda Ridges tectonic spreading center, is located roughly 200 kilometres off the northern coast of California and southern Oregon. Running NE – SW it is roughly 300 kilometres in length. The ridge is broken into three segments; the northern ridge, central ridge, and the southern ridge, which contains the Escanaba Trough.
context_section_description: The Pacific Plate is moving in a northwest direction, creating a divergence with the Gorda Plate at a speed of 5 cm per year. The Juan de Fuca Plate (including the Gorda Plate) is moving east-northeast, subducting under the North America Plate at a much slower rate of 2.5–3 cm per year. Due to the ridge being segmented into three distinct parts, each section has its own spreading rate, caused by the slab-pull and ridge-push of the surrounding tectonic plates. The northern segment is the narrowest, with portions as narrow as 3 km across, and has the fastest spreading rate of 2.9 cm per year (half-rate). The central segment is roughly 10 km wide with a spreading rate of 2.4 cm per year (half-rate). The southern segment has sections as wide as 18 km, and has the slowest spreading rate of 1.2 cm per year (half-rate).
caption: Seismic events near the Gorda Ridge.
exif: {}