Chile Rise in the context of "South American Plate"

⭐ In the context of the South American Plate, the Chile Rise is considered…

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⭐ Core Definition: Chile Rise

The Chile Ridge, also known as the Chile Rise, is a submarine oceanic ridge formed by the divergent plate boundary between the Nazca plate and the Antarctic plate. It extends from the triple junction of the Nazca, Pacific, and Antarctic plates to the Southern coast of Chile. The Chile Ridge is easy to recognize on the map, as the ridge is divided into several segmented fracture zones which are perpendicular to the ridge segments, showing an orthogonal shape toward the spreading direction. The total length of the ridge segments is about 550–600 km (340–370 mi; 300–320 nmi).

The continuously spreading Chile Ridge collides with the southern South American plate to the east, and the ridge has been subducting underneath the Taitao Peninsula since 14 million years (Ma). The ridge-collision has generated a slab window beneath the overlying South America plate, with smaller volume of upper mantle magma melt, proven by an abrupt low velocity of magma flow rate below the separating Chile ridge. The subduction generates a special type of igneous rocks, represented by the Taitao ophiolites, which is an ultramafic rock composed of olivine and pyroxene, usually found in oceanic plates. In addition, the subduction of the Chile Ridge also creates Taitao granite in Taitao Peninsula which appeared as plutons.

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👉 Chile Rise in the context of South American Plate

The South American plate is a major tectonic plate which includes the continent of South America as well as a sizable region of the Atlantic Ocean seabed extending eastward to the African plate, with which it forms the southern part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

The easterly edge is a divergent boundary with the African plate; the southerly edge is a complex boundary with the Antarctic plate, the Scotia plate, and the Sandwich Plate; the westerly edge is a convergent boundary with the subducting Nazca plate; and the northerly edge is a boundary with the Caribbean plate and the oceanic crust of the North American plate. At the Chile triple junction, near the west coast of the Taitao–Tres Montes Peninsula, an oceanic ridge known as the Chile Rise is actively subducting under the South American plate.

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Chile Rise in the context of Nazca plate

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.

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Chile Rise in the context of Chile triple junction

The Chile triple junction (or Chile margin triple junction) is a geologic triple junction located on the seafloor of the Pacific Ocean off Taitao and Tres Montes Peninsula on the southern coast of Chile. Here three tectonic plates meet: the South American plate, the Nazca plate and the Antarctic plate. This triple junction is unusual in that it consists of a mid-oceanic ridge, the Chile Rise, being subducted under the South American plate at the Peru–Chile Trench. The Chile triple junction is the boundary between the Chilean Rise and the Chilean margin, where the Nazca, Antarctic, and South American plates meet at the trench.

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Chile Rise in the context of Taitao ophiolite

Taitao ophiolite (Spanish: Ofiolita de Taitao) is an ophiolite in Taitao Peninsula of western Patagonia, Chile. The ophiolite crops out about 10 km w to the east of the Peru-Chile Trench and 50 km to the south of Chile Triple Junction —two features to which it is related.

The ophiolite formed in connection to the subduction of the Chile Rise, a mid-ocean ridge, beneath South America. More specifically it has been proposed that the ophiolite formed in a rift of the forearc region of the South American plate.

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LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← South American Plate ← South American plate ← Nazca plate ← Chile triple junction ← Chile Triple Junction ← Nazca Plate ← Taitao ophiolite
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
Mid-ocean ridge → Divergent plate boundary → Nazca plate → Antarctic plate → Pacific plate → Chile → Fracture zone → Orthogonality → South American plate → Subduction → Taitao Peninsula → Slab window → Upper mantle (Earth) → Magma → Velocity → Igneous rock → Taitao ophiolite → Ultramafic rock → Olivine → Pyroxene → Oceanic crust → Granite → Igneous intrusion →