- Dakota County, Minnesota (Wikipedia)
Dakota County is the third-most populous county in the U.S. state of Minnesota, located in the east central portion of the state. As of the 2020 census, the population was 439,882. The population of Dakota County was estimated to be 447,440 in 2023. The county seat is Hastings. Dakota County is named for the Dakota Sioux tribal bands who inhabited the area.
- Mendota Heights (/mɛnˈdoʊtə/ men-DOH-tə) is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, United States. It is a first-ring southern suburb of the Twin Cities. The population was 11,744 at the 2020 census.
- Gorda Plate (Wikipedia)
The Gorda Plate, located beneath the Pacific Ocean off the coast of northern California, is one of the northern remnants of the Farallon Plate. It is sometimes referred to (by, for example, publications from the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program) as simply the southernmost portion of the neighboring Juan de Fuca Plate, another Farallon remnant.