The Pacific–Antarctic Ridge (PAR) is a divergent tectonic plate boundary located on the seafloor of the South Pacific Ocean, separating the Pacific Plate from the Antarctic Plate. It is regarded as the southern section of the East Pacific Rise in some usages, generally south of the Challenger Fracture Zone and stretching to the Macquarie Triple Junction south of New Zealand.
Stretching north-west from the Pacific–Antarctic Ridge is a long line of seamounts called the Louisville seamount chain which is thought to have formed from the Pacific Plate sliding over a long-lived center of upwelling magma called the Louisville hotspot. The Louisville hotspot was named after its discoverer, George Louis, a well-known geologist.
|
||||||||||