When did tectonic plates collide?

About 1.85 billion years ago, volcanic rocks typical of modern island arcs were deposited on top of this sequence, indicating that the continental margins had foundered and become subduction zones. Finally, they dated the time of continental collision at about 1.8 billion years.

How long has the Pacific Plate been grinding past the North American Plate?

10 million years
The San Andreas fault zone, which is about 1,300 km long and in places tens of kilometers wide, slices through two thirds of the length of California. Along it, the Pacific Plate has been grinding horizontally past the North American Plate for 10 million years, at an average rate of about 5 cm/yr.

What is happening between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate in California?

The Pacific Plate is being moved north west due to sea floor spreading from the East Pacific Rise (divergent margin) in the Gulf of California. The North American Plate is being pushed west and north west due to sea floor spreading from the Mid Atlantic Ridge (divergent margin).

What plate does the North American Plate collide with?

The Farallon Plate has almost completely subducted beneath the western portion of the North American Plate leaving that part of the North American Plate in contact with the Pacific Plate as the San Andreas Fault.

What is it called when one plate is pushed under another plate as they collide?

Plates Subduct. When an ocean plate collides with another ocean plate or with a plate carrying continents, one plate will bend and slide under the other. This process is called subduction.

What happens when continents collide?

In geology, continental collision is a phenomenon of plate tectonics that occurs at convergent boundaries. Continental collision is a variation on the fundamental process of subduction, whereby the subduction zone is destroyed, mountains produced, and two continents sutured together.

How many plates lie under the Pacific Ocean?

nine oceanic
The ocean floor of the Pacific Ocean is composed of nine oceanic tectonic plates, all located in the southeast where the East Pacific Rise separates the Pacific Plate from the Antarctic, Juan Fernández, Nasca, Easter, Galápagos, Cocos, Rivera, Juan de Fuca plates.

How old is the Pacific Plate?

around 190 million years ago
The Pacific Plate originated at the triple junction of the three main oceanic plates of Panthalassa, the Farallon, Phoenix, and Izanagi Plates, around 190 million years ago.

Are Los Angeles and San Francisco getting closer?

To the west of the fault is the Pacific plate, which is moving northwest. Los Angeles, located on the Pacific plate, is now 340 miles south of San Francisco, located on the North American plate. In 16 million years, the plates will have moved so much that Los Angeles will be north of San Francisco!

When did the North American Plate first contact the Pacific Plate?

about 30 million years ago
Beginning about 30 million years ago, so much of the Farallon Plate was consumed by subduction that the Pacific and North American plates were in contact, forming the San Andreas transform plate boundary in western California.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdMnmXZUgxE