Is the Pacific Ocean Shrinking? Plate Tectonics Say It's Growing

False. The Pacific Ocean is currently expanding, not shrinking.

It is bounded by subduction zones (the "Ring of Fire") where oceanic crust dives under continental plates. However, the Pacific Plate itself is growing at the East Pacific Rise, a divergent boundary where new crust forms. The Atlantic is widening faster, but the Pacific's total area is still increasing slightly due to seafloor spreading outpacing subduction in some sectors.

Over geological time, the Pacific has both grown and shrunk; today, it remains the largest ocean at 165.2 million km².