New England is located within a tectonic plate, so «it is not as seismically active as places like California, at an active tectonic plate margin,» said Monecke. (seismosoc.org)
He attributes the Alaska Range's alternating topographic signatures to a myriad of factors: contrasting lithospheric strength between large terranes (i.e., distinctly different rock units); the location of the curved Denali fault; the transfer of strain inland from southern Alaska's active plate margin; and the shape of the controlling former continental margin against weaker suture - zone rocks. (sciencedaily.com)
In between, the continental crust on the Pacific and Australian plates slide past one another on South Island, creating a conservative plate margin where crust is neither created nor destroyed. (newscientist.com)