Between 72 million and 56 million years ago, an oceanic plate called the Wrangellia Composite Terrane bumped into the western ...

Six of the majors are named for the continents embedded within them, such as the North American ... of the United States. The plates make up Earth's outer shell, called the lithosphere.

To the west of the fault is the Pacific plate, which is moving northwest. To the east is the North American Plate, which is moving southeast. Los Angeles, located on the Pacific plate, is now 340 ...

This is called a destructive or convergent plate ... where the Eurasian and North American Plates are moving apart, is the perfect example of this. Plates can also move past each other, like ...