Geology Of The Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean evolved from the Panthalassic Ocean when Rodinia rifted apart around 750 million years ago. The first ocean floor which is part of the current Pacific Plate, began to the west of the central Pacific, subsequently developing into the largest oceanic plate on Earth.
The tectonic plates continue to move today. The slowest spreading ridge is the Gakkel Ridge on the Arctic Ocean floor which spreads at less that 2.5 cm/yr while the fastest, the East Pacific Rise near Easter Island, has a spreading rate of over 15 cm/yr.
Read more about Geology Of The Pacific Ocean: History, Geological Origins of The Pacific Islands, Andesite Line, Earthquakes
Famous quotes containing the words pacific and/or ocean:
“Really, there is no infidelity, nowadays, so great as that which prays, and keeps the Sabbath, and rebuilds the churches. The sealer of the South Pacific preaches a truer doctrine.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Everything that ever walked or crawled on the face of the earth, swum the depths of the ocean or soared through the skies left its imprint here.”
—Robert M. Fresco, and Jack Arnold. Dr. Matt Hastings (John Agar)