Passive margin
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In plate tectonics, a passive margin is the normally gently sloping continental shelf area located on the trailing edge of a drifting continent. The passive margin is free of the seismic and volcanic activity associated with the subduction, rifting or transform faulting that is the result of plate tectonic activity.
Present-day examples include the eastern seaboards of North America and South America, and all shores of Africa except for the active Mediterranean and Red Sea margins.
