plate boundaries

• Convergent boundary


  Two plates are pushing toward each other
• Convergent boundaries

  • Boundary between the Eurasian Plate and the Indian Plate at the Himalayas
  • Boundary between the Nazca Plate and the South American Plate along the west coast of South America
• Divergent boundary


  Two plates are moving apart from each other
• Divergent boundaries


  • Boundary between the African Plate and the Arabian Plate in the Red Sea
  • Boundary between the Pacific and Antarctic Plates
  • Mid-Atlantic Ridge, made up of the boundary between the North American and Eurasian Plates in the North Atlantic, crossing Iceland, and the South American and the African Plates in the South Atlantic
• Transform boundary


  Two plates slide past each other
• Transform plate boundaries


  • Boundary between the Pacific Plate and the Australian Plate, crossing New Zealand
  • Boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate in California
• Processes Along Plate Boundaries

  Slip, Slide and Collide
• Convergent Plate Boundary: Continental-Continental collision


  • Continental plates are too light to get pulled under the earth and turned into magma
  • Collision between two continental plates crunches and folds the rock at the boundary, lifting it up and leading to the formation of mountains and mountain ranges
• Convergent Plate Boundary: Continental-Continental collision

  • Himalayan range
  • Alps
• Himalayas


  Highest mountain peaks in the world, traversing India, Pakistan, China (Tibet), Bhutan, and Nepal, formed by the collision of the Indian and Eurasian Plates
• Alps


  Highest and most extensive mountain range system in south-central Europe, stretching approximately 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) in a crescent shape across eight Alpine countries: France, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, and Slovenia, formed by the collision of the African and European plates
• Andes Mountains


  Mountain system of South America, one of the great natural features on Earth
• Convergent Plate Boundary: Oceanic-Continental collision


  • Denser oceanic crust undergoes subduction process or the bending of the crust towards the mantle
  • Gives rise to the formation of a volcanic arc near the edge of a continental leading plate
• Trench


  Deepest part of the ocean, also called submarine valleys, one of the deepest is the Philippine trench with a depth of 10,540 meters
• Subduction zone


  Area where one plate is being pulled under the edge of another
• Volcanic arc


  Arc-shaped chain of volcanoes formed above a subduction zone
• Convergent Plate Boundary: Oceanic-Oceanic collision

  • Trenches are formed, which become the sources of earthquakes
  • The world's deepest parts of the ocean are found along trenches, e.g. The Mariana Trench is 11 km deep
  • Underwater earthquakes, especially the stronger ones, can generate tsunamis
• Volcanic island arc


  Chain of volcanoes positioned in an arc shape