South Pacific plate tectonics (IMAGE) University of Texas at Austin Caption The edges of Earth’s bumping and diving tectonic plates, centered over the Pacific Ocean. The colors indicate whether the plates are scraping past (yellow), diving under (green), or pulling away (red) from one another. The study site marks the location of the newly forming subduction zone. Credit Brandon Shuck/University of Texas Institute for Geophysics Usage Restrictions Please credit creator. License Original content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.