 Approximately 5.25 million years ago, the boundary between the Pacific and Nazca plates was not connected and did not completely separate the two plates.The Easter microplate began to grow to the north-south throughout this period.The eastern rift, having not yet connected to the western rift, began to propagate northward by pseudofaults that appear to the west and east of the rift and continued until approximately 2.25 million years ago when the tip reached 23° S. While this was occurring, the west rift was propagating southward, north of the east rift, breaking into segments connected by transform faults that trend towards the southwest.