The North Andes plate or North Andes block is a small tectonic plate (microplate) located in the northern Andes. It is squeezed between the faster moving South American plate and the Nazca plate to the southwest. Due to the subduction of the Coiba and Malpelo plates, this area is very prone to volcanic and seismic activity, with many historical earthquakes.

Boundaries

The North Andes plate is bound by (clockwise from north):

Terranes

The Colombian part of the North Andes plate is subdivided into several terranes:

[• Chibcha Terrane is enclosed by the Bucaramanga-Santa Marta Fault (BSF, orange), northernmost Oca Fault (Oca, white), Eastern Frontal Fault System (EFFS, yellow) and Romeral Fault System (RFS, violet) • Tahamí Terrane is enclosed by BSF, OCA and RFS • Anacona, Arqúia and Quebradagrande Terranes are emplaced by RFS • La Guajira Terrane is enclosed by BSF and northernmost by Oca • Caribe Terrane is enclosed by BSF, RFS and plate boundaries with Coiba (red) and Malpelo plates (purple)

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Tectonics

Subduction of the Coiba plate underneath the North Andes plate causes frequent earthquakes in the Bucaramanga Nest, the most seismically active area in the world. The Bucaramanga-Santa Marta Fault stretches along the plate for more than 600 kilometers from north to south. The plate boundary with the South American plate is most tectonically active along a more than 900 kilometer long megaregional fault system; the Eastern Frontal Fault System. This fault system, extending into Ecuador and Venezuela all along the northern Andes, separates the terranes from the North Andes plate from:

Maps