The Coiba plate is a small tectonic plate (microplate) located off the coasts south of

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

and northwestern

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. It is named after

Coiba Coiba () is the largest island in Central America, with an area of , off the Pacific coast of the Panamanian province of Veraguas. It is part of the Montijo District of that province. History Coiba separated from continental Panama between 1 ...

, the largest island of Central America, just north of the plate offshore southern Panama. It is bounded on the west by the Cocos plate, on the south by the

Malpelo plate The Malpelo plate is a small tectonic plate (microplate) located off the coasts west of Ecuador and Colombia. It is the 57th plate to be identified. It is named after Malpelo Island, the only emerged part of the plate. It is bounded on the west ...

, on the east by the North Andes plate, and on the north by the Panama plate. This microplate was previously assumed to be part of the Nazca Plate, forming the northeastern tongue of the Nazca plate together with the Malpelo plate. Bordering the Coiba plate on the east are the north–south striking Bahía Solano Fault and east of that, the Serranía de Baudó, an isolated mountain chain in northwestern Chocó, Colombia.

Description

The Coiba plate was identified as early as 1981 by Pennington, and later in 1988 by Adamek et al.Zhang et al., 2017 It is named after

, to the south of mainland Panama, bordering the plate. It was presented together with the newly defined Malpelo plate by Tuo Zhang and lead-researcher Richard G. Gordon et al. of

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

in a paper published in August 2017. The Coiba transform fault (CTF) separates the Coiba plate from the Malpelo plate. The slab tear between the microplates could have happened during the fragmentation of the Farallon plate, in the

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

, around 30 to 25 Ma.Chiarabba et al., 2016, p.22 The Coiba Ridge, a submerged part of the plate probably formed at the

Galápagos hotspot The Galápagos hotspot is a volcanic hotspot in the East Pacific Ocean responsible for the creation of the Galápagos Islands as well as three major aseismic ridge systems, Carnegie, Cocos and Malpelo which are on two tectonic plates. The hots ...

, in contrast with the Malpelo Ridge, a product of volcanic activity.Meschede & Barckhausen, 2000, p.1 The researchers led by Gordon used a

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

database of multibeam

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

soundings west of Ecuador and Colombia to identify a diffuse

plate boundary Plate tectonics (, ) is the scientific theory that the Earth's lithosphere comprises a number of large tectonic plates, which have been slowly moving since 3–4 billion years ago. The model builds on the concept of , an idea developed durin ...

that runs from the Panama transform fault (PTF) eastward.

Gallery

File:NazcaPlate.png, Former plate boundaries in the Pacific, offshore western South America File:Mapa de Amenaza Sísmica de Colombia.png, Seismic activity map of Colombia File:Isla de Coiba - Granite de Oro - Pacific Ocean Islands off Panama - panoramio (4).jpg, Coiba, namesake of the plate

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

Map of the Coiba Plate
{{Tectonism in Colombia, state=expanded Tectonic plates Geology of Central America Geology of Colombia Geology of Panama Geology of the Pacific Ocean Geography of Chocó Department Los Santos Province Veraguas Province

Description

Gallery

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links