The Malpelo Ridge () is an elevated part of
Nazca plate
The Nazca plate or Nasca plate, named after the Nazca region of southern Peru, is an oceanic list of tectonic plates, tectonic plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean basin off the west coast of South America. The ongoing subduction, along the Peru– ...
off the Pacific coast of
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 a
faulted chain of
volcanic rock
Volcanic rocks (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) are rocks formed from lava erupted from a volcano. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic rock is artificial, and in nature volcanic rocks grade into hypabyssal and me ...
of
tholeiitic composition.
The Malpelo Ridge may have originated simultaneously as
Carnegie Ridge
The Carnegie Ridge is an aseismic ridge on the Nazca plate that is being Subduction, subducted beneath the South American plate. The ridge is thought to be a result of the passage of the Nazca Plate over the Galápagos hotspot. It is named for th ...
, and thus represent an old continuation of
Cocos Ridge
The Cocos Ridge is an aseismic ridge within the Cocos plate that runs northeastwards from just north of the Galápagos islands to the Middle America Trench offshore Panama. It records the effects of the Galápagos hotspot on the Cocos plate since ...
.
It is thought to have acquired it present position due to tectonic movements along the
Panama fracture zone
The Panama fracture zone is a major, active right lateral-moving transform fault and associated inactive fracture zone which forms part of the tectonic boundary between the Cocos plate and the Nazca plate, the Cocos–Nazca spreading centre. It i ...
.
[
]
References
Geology of Colombia
Underwater ridges of the Pacific Ocean
Oceanography
Hotspot tracks
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