Related words. 1  poke noun. 2  poke around phrasal verb. 3  poke fun (at) phrase.  a pig in a poke 1  phrase. poke a hole in something phrase.  poke/shove/stick your nose into something 1  phrase. poke about phrasal verb at poke around.  poke fun at phrase at make fun of.
Because the subduction zone (which is also the plate boundary) is generally an arc-shape, geologists named those volcanoes volcanic arcs. A volcanic arc built on continental crust is called a continental arc; when built on oceanic crust the volcanoes form an island arc. Volcanic arcs are made of an arc-shaped chain of volcanoes. 2  The position of which could be continental or mid-ocean. 3  While an island arc must be offshore and does not necessarily be volcanic (e.g. Hellenic arc).
This volcanic arc delineates the boundary between the Pacific and North American tectonic plates. A subduction zone, composed of the deep Aleutian Trench coupled with a landward line of volcanoes, creates a series of offshore islands (the Aleutians) as well as a line of volcanoes along the edge of the continent (the Aleutian Range on the Alaska Peninsula).