Pacific Ocean

Columbia River Basalt Group

Columbia River Basalt Group map shows main regions of basalt exposure in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Nevada, USA. (usgs.gov)

bays

beach

cape

Cape Alava

cities

continuation of

Panthalassa

countries

islands

maps

namesake

Pacific County, Washington

northernmost point

Bering Strait

ocean of

Earth

opposite

Atlantic Ocean

overseas collectivity

photographs

random

Rattlesnake Lake

sea

Salish Sea

sound

Puget Sound

states

strait

Bering Strait

tagged

Puget_lobe_of_the_Cordilleran_ice_sheet.jpg (wikimedia.org)
In the nearby Pacific Ocean, roughly 170 miles (270 km) west of Vashon Island, lies the 700-mile (1,130 km) tectonic boundary known as the Cascadia Subduction Zone, and as such, Vashon Island is one of many areas at risk for earthquakes or related natural disasters.
The Farallon tectonic plate that formed a part of the Pacific Ocean floor (separate from the Pacific plate) inched eastward toward North America about 35 million years ago and most of the sea floor subducted beneath the continental land mass of the North America plate.
down the Pacific coast
The Pacific Ocean was born 750 million years ago at the breakup of Rodinia, although it is generally called the Panthalassa until the breakup of Pangea, about 200 million years ago.
up the Pacific coast
Panthalassa was a hemisphere-sized ocean, much larger than the modern Pacific.
Willapa River
Deception Pass
Pacific Plate

tags

ocean

tectonic plate

wikipedia

Pacific Ocean (Wikipedia) The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth’s five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continents of Asia and Oceania in the west and the Americas in the east.