Back تقاطع ثلاثي Arabic Triple cruïlla Catalan Triple Junction German Triple unión tectónica Spanish اتصال سهگانه Persian Point triple (géodynamique) French Triple junction ID Tripla giunzione Italian 三重会合点 Japanese 삼중합점 Korean
A triple junction is the point where the boundaries of three tectonic plates meet. At the triple junction each of the three boundaries will be one of three types – a ridge (R), trench (T) or transform fault (F) – and triple junctions can be described according to the types of plate margin that meet at them (e.g. Fault-Fault-Trench, Ridge-Ridge-Ridge, or abbreviated F-F-T, R-R-R). Of the ten possible types of triple junctions only a few are stable through time ('stable' in this context means that the geometrical configuration of the triple junction will not change through geologic time). The meeting of four or more plates is also theoretically possible but junctions will only exist instantaneously.[1]
- ^ C. M. R. Fowler; Connie May Fowler; Clarence Mary R. Fowler (2005). The Solid Earth: An Introduction to Global Geophysics. Cambridge University Press. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-521-58409-8.