Finding the Chile Triple Junction’s gap: Seismology offers slab window insights

Off the southern coast of Chile, three tectonic plates meet at a point known as the Chile Triple Junction. Two are oceanic plates, the Nazca and the Antarctic, which are separating in an active spreading center, creating a mid-ocean ridge between them. At the same time, both plates—spreading ridge included—are sliding into the mantle beneath a third plate, the South American. The Chile Triple Junction is the only place on Earth where an active spreading center is subducting under a continental plate.

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