Plate Tectonics II

T- 1-855-694-8886
Email- info@iTutor.com
By iTutor.com

 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.
© iTutor. 2000-2013. All Rights Reserved
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
Call us for more
Information:
www.iTutor.com
1-855-694-8886
Visit

Plate Tectonics II

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (6)

Similar to Plate Tectonics II

Similar to Plate Tectonics II (20)

More from itutor

More from itutor (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Plate Tectonics II