Earth:Boso Triple Junction

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Short description: The meeting point of the Okhotsk Plate, the Pacific Plate, and the Philippine Sea Plate


Tectonic plates under Japan RedDisc.svgBoso Triple Junction

Boso Triple Junction (also known as Off-Boso Triple Junction) is a triple junction off the coast of Japan; it is one of two known examples of a trench-trench-trench triple junction on the Earth (the other being the Banda Sea Triple Junction). It is the meeting point of the North American Plate (represented by the Okhotsk Plate) to the north, the Pacific Plate to the east and the Philippine Sea Plate to the south.[1]

Name origin

The Boso Triple Junction is named after the Bōsō Peninsula.

Formation

It is formed from the junction of the Izu–Bonin–Mariana Arc where the Izu–Bonin Trench meets with the Japan Trench and the Sagami Trench.

Risks

The Boso triple junction is only ~400 kilometers from the Mount Fuji triple junction.

The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami were generated along the Japan trench well to the north of the junction and did not involve the other two trenches, although quakes that may have been aftershocks have been observed there[clarification needed].

References