@abovethenormnews: 🌍⚡ The Birth of a Microplate, The Death of a Trench ⚡🌍 Seismic imaging off Vancouver Island shows a slab tearing loose from the crust. The Explorer Plate has dropped over three kilometers across a vertical fault. The trench above it is no longer intact. Methane vents mark the fault zone. Earthquakes track the break. Mantle flow beneath the region is shifting. This is active tectonic collapse. The boundary is breaking. A microplate is detaching. #ExplorerPlate #SlabTear #CascadiaMargin #SubductionFailure #Geophysics