Aleutian Trench

Aleutian Trench

The Aleutian Trench (or Aleutian Trough) ["Webster's New Geographical Dictionary", p. 30] is a subduction zone and oceanic trench which runs along the southern coastline of Alaska and the adjacent waters of northeastern Siberia off the coast of Kamchatka Peninsula. It is classified as a "marginal trench" in the east as it runs along the margin of the continent, and as an island arc where it runs through the open sea. The trench extends for 3,400 km from a triple junction in the west with the Ulakhan Fault and the northern end of the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench, to a junction with the northern end of the Queen Charlotte Fault system in the east. The Aleutian Trench forms part of the boundary between two tectonic plates. Here, the Pacific Plate is being subducted under the North American Plate at an angle of nearly 45 degrees. The deepest part of the Aleutian trench has been measured at 7,679 meters (25,194 ft). North of the trench, a string of volcanoes and associated islands have formed where melting of the crust has been caused by the descending plate beneath them.

See also

*Oceanic trench

References

*"Webster's New Geographical Dictionary". Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 1984. ISBN 0-87779-446-4,

External links

* [http://www.gsajournals.org/perlserv/?request=display-figures&name=i0091-7613-30-6-495-f01 Map of Eastern End of the Aleutian Trench]


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