Middle America Trench subduction interface
E780320
The Middle America Trench subduction interface is a major convergent plate boundary off the Pacific coast of Central America and Mexico where the Cocos Plate is forced beneath the North American and Caribbean Plates, generating powerful megathrust earthquakes.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Middle America Trench subduction interface canonical | 1 |
| Middle America subduction zone | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T9138231 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Middle America Trench subduction interface Context triple: [1985 Mexico City earthquake, locatedOn, Middle America Trench subduction interface]
-
A.
Tonga-Kermadec subduction system
The Tonga-Kermadec subduction system is a major convergent plate boundary in the southwest Pacific where the Pacific Plate descends beneath the Indo-Australian Plate, producing one of the world’s deepest ocean trenches and most active seismic and volcanic regions.
-
B.
East Pacific tectonic system
The East Pacific tectonic system is a major geological region in the eastern Pacific Ocean characterized by active seafloor spreading, transform faults, and subduction zones that shape the surrounding oceanic plates and continental margins.
-
C.
Sunda subduction system
The Sunda subduction system is a major convergent plate boundary in Southeast Asia where the Indo-Australian Plate is being subducted beneath the Eurasian/Sunda Plate, generating intense seismic and volcanic activity along Indonesia’s island arcs.
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D.
Aleutian subduction system
The Aleutian subduction system is a major tectonic plate boundary where the Pacific Plate is forced beneath the North American Plate, forming the Aleutian Trench and associated volcanic island arc in the North Pacific.
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E.
Pacific–North American plate boundary system
The Pacific–North American plate boundary system is a major tectonic boundary zone where the Pacific Plate and North American Plate interact through a complex network of faults and plate motions along western North America.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Middle America Trench subduction interface Target entity description: The Middle America Trench subduction interface is a major convergent plate boundary off the Pacific coast of Central America and Mexico where the Cocos Plate is forced beneath the North American and Caribbean Plates, generating powerful megathrust earthquakes.
-
A.
Tonga-Kermadec subduction system
The Tonga-Kermadec subduction system is a major convergent plate boundary in the southwest Pacific where the Pacific Plate descends beneath the Indo-Australian Plate, producing one of the world’s deepest ocean trenches and most active seismic and volcanic regions.
-
B.
East Pacific tectonic system
The East Pacific tectonic system is a major geological region in the eastern Pacific Ocean characterized by active seafloor spreading, transform faults, and subduction zones that shape the surrounding oceanic plates and continental margins.
-
C.
Sunda subduction system
The Sunda subduction system is a major convergent plate boundary in Southeast Asia where the Indo-Australian Plate is being subducted beneath the Eurasian/Sunda Plate, generating intense seismic and volcanic activity along Indonesia’s island arcs.
-
D.
Aleutian subduction system
The Aleutian subduction system is a major tectonic plate boundary where the Pacific Plate is forced beneath the North American Plate, forming the Aleutian Trench and associated volcanic island arc in the North Pacific.
-
E.
Pacific–North American plate boundary system
The Pacific–North American plate boundary system is a major tectonic boundary zone where the Pacific Plate and North American Plate interact through a complex network of faults and plate motions along western North America.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (45)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf | subduction zone ⓘ |
| approximateLength | ~2700 km ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
episodic tremor and slip
ⓘ
interplate earthquakes ⓘ slow slip events ⓘ tsunamis ⓘ |
| associatedWithTrench | Middle America Trench ⓘ |
| controls |
seismic hazard in Central America
ⓘ
seismic hazard in southern Mexico ⓘ |
| deformationStyle | compressional ⓘ |
| dipDirection | northeast ⓘ |
| drives |
arc volcanism in Central America
ⓘ
arc volcanism in southern Mexico ⓘ |
| faultType | thrust fault ⓘ |
| generates | megathrust earthquakes ⓘ |
| hasSegment |
Costa Rican–Panamanian segment
ⓘ
Guatemalan segment ⓘ Mexican segment ⓘ Salvadoran–Nicaraguan segment ⓘ |
| hazardType | subduction megathrust hazard ⓘ |
| influences |
coastal uplift and subsidence in Central America
ⓘ
coastal uplift and subsidence in southern Mexico ⓘ |
| knownFor | frequent large interplate earthquakes ⓘ |
| linkedTo |
Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt
ⓘ
volcanic arc of Central America ⓘ |
| locatedIn | eastern Pacific Ocean ⓘ |
| locatedOffCoastOf |
Costa Rica
ⓘ
El Salvador ⓘ Guatemala ⓘ Mexico ⓘ Nicaragua ⓘ Panama ⓘ |
| maximumEarthquakeMagnitude | >8 ⓘ |
| overridingPlate |
Caribbean Plate
ⓘ
North American Plate ⓘ |
| partOf | Pacific Ring of Fire ⓘ |
| relativePlateMotion |
convergence of Cocos Plate with Caribbean Plate
ⓘ
convergence of Cocos Plate with North American Plate ⓘ |
| researchField |
geodynamics
ⓘ
seismology ⓘ tectonics ⓘ |
| seismogenicZoneDepth | to ~40–60 km ⓘ |
| subductingPlate | Cocos Plate ⓘ |
| tectonicSetting |
convergent margin
ⓘ
subduction margin ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Middle America Trench subduction interface Description of subject: The Middle America Trench subduction interface is a major convergent plate boundary off the Pacific coast of Central America and Mexico where the Cocos Plate is forced beneath the North American and Caribbean Plates, generating powerful megathrust earthquakes.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Middle America Trench subduction interface