Farallon plate in the context of "Pacific plate"

In geology, the slab (variously called subducting, downgoing or oceanic lithosphere slab) is a significant constituent of subduction zones. It is the part of the subducting plate which bends downward and descends into the mantle in a convergent tectonic plate boundary.

Although during subduction it is the oceanic lithosphere that subducts, creating an oceanic lithosphere slab, towards the end of this process and just before continental collision, continental lithosphere attached to the subducting oceanic crust slab can also subduct. Consequently, there can also be continental lithosphere slabs.

The Nazca plate or Nasca plate, named after the Nazca region of southern Peru, is an oceanic tectonic plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean basin off the west coast of South America. The ongoing subduction, along the Peru–Chile Trench, of the Nazca plate under the South American plate is largely responsible for the Andean orogeny. The Nazca plate is bounded on the west by the Pacific plate and to the south by the Antarctic plate through the East Pacific Rise and the Chile Rise, respectively. The movement of the Nazca plate over several hotspots has created some volcanic islands as well as east–west running seamount chains that subduct under South America. Nazca is a relatively young plate in terms of the age of its rocks and its existence as an independent plate, having been formed from the breakup of the Farallon plate about 23 million years ago. The oldest rocks of the plate are about 50 million years old.

The Cocos plate is a young oceanic tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Central America, named for Cocos Island, which rides upon it. The Cocos plate was created approximately 23 million years ago when the Farallon plate broke into two pieces, which also created the Nazca plate. The Cocos plate also broke into two pieces, creating the small Rivera plate. The Cocos plate is bounded to the northeast by the North American plate and the Caribbean plate. To the west it is bounded by the Pacific plate and to the south by the Nazca plate.

The only land above water on the Cocos plate is Cocos Island, which is administered by Costa Rica and lies approximately 550 km (342 mi; 297 nmi) southwest of the Costa Rican mainland.

The Phoenix plate (also known as the Aluk plate or Drake plate) was a tectonic plate that existed during the early Paleozoic through late Cenozoic time. It formed a triple junction with the Izanagi and Farallon plates in the Panthalassa Ocean as early as 410 million years ago, during which time the Phoenix plate was subducting under eastern Gondwana.

By the late Jurassic–early Cretaceous, 150–130 million years ago, the Pacific plate arose from the Izanagi–Farallon–Phoenix triple junction, resulting in the creation of the Izanagi–Pacific–Phoenix and Farallon–Pacific–Phoenix triple junctions. Subduction ceased east of Australia about 120 million years ago, during which time a transform/transpressional boundary formed. This transform/transpressional boundary with the Phoenix plate lasted until about 80 million years ago as the plate continued to descend southwards as a result of Late Cretaceous subduction under the Antarctic Peninsula.

45°N 124°W / 45°N 124°W / 45; -124The Cascadia subduction zone is a 1,000 km (620 mi) long convergent plate boundary, about 100–200 km (70–100 mi) off the Pacific coast of North America, that stretches from northern Vancouver Island in Canada to Northern California in the United States. It is capable of producing 9.0+ magnitude earthquakes and tsunamis that could reach 30 m (100 ft) high. The Oregon Department of Emergency Management estimates shaking would last 5–7 minutes along the coast, with strength and intensity decreasing further from the epicenter. It is a very long, sloping subduction zone where the Explorer, Juan de Fuca, and Gorda plates move to the east and slide below the much larger, mostly continental North American plate. The zone varies in width and lies offshore beginning near Cape Mendocino, Northern California, passing through Oregon and Washington, and terminating in Canada at about Vancouver Island in British Columbia.

The Explorer, Juan de Fuca, and Gorda plates are some of the remnants of the vast ancient Farallon plate which is now mostly subducted under the North American plate. The North American plate itself is moving slowly in a generally southwest direction, sliding over the smaller plates as well as the huge oceanic Pacific plate (which is moving in a northwest direction) in other locations such as the San Andreas Fault in central and southern California.

The Juan de Fuca plate or Juan de Fuca microplate is a small oceanic tectonic plate (microplate) generated from the Juan de Fuca Ridge that is subducting beneath the northerly portion of the western side of the North American plate at the Cascadia subduction zone. It is named after the explorer of the same name. One of the smallest of Earth's tectonic plates, the Juan de Fuca microplate is a remnant part of the once-vast Farallon plate, which is now largely subducted underneath the North American plate.

In plate tectonic reconstructions, the Juan de Fuca microplate is referred to as the Vancouver plate between the break-up of the Farallon plate c. 55–52 Ma and the activation of the San Andreas Fault c. 30 Ma.