Puerto Rico Trench

The Puerto Rico Trench is a deep ocean trench north of Puerto Rico, reaching about 8,376 meters. It marks a complex plate boundary where the North American Plate underthrusts the Caribbean Plate.

North American Plate: A tectonic plate carrying most of North America and parts of the Atlantic Ocean floor. Its eastward motion drives underthrusting beneath the Caribbean Plate along the trench.
Milwaukee Deep: A deep basin within the Puerto Rico Trench, measured at about 8,376 meters. It is the trench's deepest known point and the Atlantic Ocean's deepest measured location.
Tsunami warning system: A network of sensors and procedures used to detect tsunamis and issue alerts. Earthquake-generated tsunamis from the region make rapid detection essential for Caribbean coasts.
Lesser Antilles Trench: A submarine trench east of the Caribbean islands where Atlantic oceanic crust descends beneath the Caribbean Plate. It is another major subduction zone along the Caribbean Plate's eastern boundary.
Caribbean Plate: A tectonic plate underlying the Caribbean Sea and surrounding regions. Its boundary with the North American Plate shapes the trench and nearby seismicity.
2010 Haiti earthquake: A magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck near Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010. It demonstrates the severe seismic hazard of the broader Caribbean plate-boundary region.
Ocean-bottom seismometer: A seismometer designed to record earthquakes on or beneath the seafloor. Seafloor instruments help locate earthquakes across the trench's remote offshore faults.
Cayman Trough: A deep oceanic basin in the Caribbean Sea formed along a transform plate boundary. Its strike-slip setting offers a regional contrast to the trench's convergent boundary.
Subduction: The descent of one tectonic plate beneath another at a convergent plate boundary. Underthrusting at the trench is a shallow, complex form of plate convergence.
1918 San Fermín earthquake: A major earthquake that struck near Puerto Rico on October 11, 1918, and generated a tsunami. Its tsunami and damage show the historical hazards associated with faults near the trench.

Linked from 5 pages