Okhotsk Plate

The Okhotsk Plate is a tectonic plate underlying the Sea of Okhotsk and parts of northeastern Asia. Its boundaries meet the Pacific, North American, and Eurasian plates.

Kuril Trench: A deep ocean trench east of the Kuril Islands where the Pacific Plate subducts beneath the Okhotsk Plate. It traces the plate’s boundary along the Kuril island arc.
2011 Tōhoku earthquake: A magnitude 9.0 megathrust earthquake that struck off northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011. It ruptured the Japan Trench boundary where the Pacific Plate subducts beneath the Okhotsk Plate.
Tectonic plate: A large, rigid section of Earth’s lithosphere that moves over the underlying mantle. The Okhotsk Plate is one regional plate within this global system.
Pacific Ring of Fire: A belt of frequent earthquakes and volcanoes around the margins of the Pacific Ocean. The Okhotsk Plate’s subduction margins form part of this wider hazard belt.
Kamchatka Trench: A deep ocean trench off Kamchatka where the Pacific Plate descends beneath the Okhotsk Plate. This boundary continues the plate’s Pacific-facing subduction zone northward.
2011 Tōhoku tsunami: A destructive tsunami generated by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake off northeastern Japan. The trench earthquake along the Okhotsk Plate margin displaced the seafloor and generated this tsunami.
North American Plate: A major tectonic plate covering North America and adjoining oceanic crust. Some plate models group the Okhotsk region with this plate rather than treating it separately.
Subduction: The process by which one tectonic plate sinks beneath another into the mantle. Subduction at the plate’s eastern and southern edges generates earthquakes and volcanism.
Sakhalin Island: A Russian island between the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan, crossed by active faults. Its fault systems accommodate motion near the western edge of the plate.
1994 Shikotan earthquake: A magnitude 8.3 earthquake that struck near Shikotan Island in the southern Kuril Islands in 1994. It illustrates major earthquakes along the Pacific-facing boundary of the Okhotsk Plate.

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