Plate Tectonics II

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 Imagine a single plate, moving in one direction on Earth’s
surface.
 One edge of the plate—the divergent boundary—moves
away from things.
 The opposite edge—called the leading edge or convergent
boundary bumps into anything in the way.
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Plate Boundaries

Plate Boundaries
 An edge of a lithospheric plate that slides by another plate
is called a transform fault boundary.

Plate Boundaries

 Divergent boundaries are found in the ocean as mid-
ocean ridges.
 A divergent boundary is the line between two plates where
they are moving apart.
 This type of boundary is found over the rising plume of a
mantle convection cell.
 Divergent boundaries can also be found on continents as
rift valleys.
 When a rift valley forms on land, it may eventually split
the landmass.
Plate Boundaries

Divergent Boundaries

Convergent Boundaries
 When oceanic plates collide, one subducts under the other.
 This forms a valley in the ocean floor called a trench.

 There are three styles of convergent plate boundaries
 Continent-continent collision
 Continent-oceanic crust collision
 Ocean-ocean collision
Continent-continent
Ocean-ocean
collision
Continent-oceanic

Ocean-ocean collision

 The oceanic plate must subduct under the continental
plate.
 A continental plate is simply too buoyant to subduct
under an oceanic plate.

Collision of Nazca
and south American
Plates
Continent-
oceanic crust
collision

Mountains And Convergent
Boundaries
 The continents cannot be sucked into the trench because
their granite rocks.
 The two continents collide!
 Mountain ranges are formed when continents collide.

Formation of Himalayas
 India used to be an island, but about 15
million years ago it crashed into Asia
(see map).
 As continental crust was pushing against
continental crust the Himalayan
mountain belt was pushed up.
 ―Mountains‖ were also pushed down
into the mantle as the normally 35 km
thick crust is approximately 70 km thick
in this region.
Mt Everest is the highest altitude
mountain on our planet standing
8,840 meters high. This means that
below the surface at the foot of the
mountain the crust is a further 61 km
deep!!

Transform Boundaries
 Where plates slide past each other
 The third type of boundary are transform boundaries,
along which plates slide past each other.
 The San Andreas fault, adjacent to which the US city of
San Francisco is built is an example of a transform
boundary between the Pacific plate and the North
American plate.

Transform Fault Boundaries
 A good clue for locating transform faults is offsetting.
 When seen from above, the feature will appear to make a
zig – zag .

Slickenslides, evidence of plate
boundaries
 The effect of rock moving
against rock is evidence of
plate boundaries.
 The rock surface moving to
the right is called slickensides
because it is smooth and
polished.

 Hot mantle plumes breaching the surface in the
middle of a tectonic plate
What are Hotspot Volcanoes?
The Hawaiian island chain are
examples of hotspot volcanoes.

Where do earthquakes form?
Figure showing the tectonic setting of earthquakes

The End
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Plate Tectonics II

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