Plate Tectonics and Landform Processes

The Aleutian Islands, Alaska

The Aleutian Islands are located along the southwestern coast of Alaska, ad at the northern edge of the Pacific plate. This plate runs along the Pacific coast of North America, with its well-known faults -- the San Andreas and the Denali -- causing the strike-slip plate motion that is familiar to residents of the Pacific coastal areas. However, at the Aleutian Island location -- a convergent boundary -- the strike-slip behavior changes to that of subduction. So, rather than the grinding of the North American plate and the Pacific plate against one another, at its northern edge, the Pacific plate drives under the North American plate. The 150 islands that make up the Aleutian arc create a sort of barrier between the Bering Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The Aleutian Islands are part of the...
[ View Full Essay]