This feature forms as magma escapes into the space between the spreading tectonic plates. A divergent plate boundary often forms a mountain chain known as a ridge. One such chain of volcanoes can be found on the western coast of the United States, spanning across the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. When subduction occurs, a chain of volcanoes often develops near the convergent plate boundary. These trenches are some of the deepest places in the ocean, and they are often the sites of strong earthquakes. When this process occurs in the ocean, an trench"> ocean trench can form. This process, called “subduction,” involves an older, denser tectonic plate being forced deep into the planet underneath a younger, less-dense tectonic plate. In some cases, however, a convergent plate boundary can result in one tectonic plate diving underneath another. Typically, a convergent plate boundary-such as the one between the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate-forms towering mountain ranges, like the Himalaya, as Earth’s crust is crumpled and pushed upward. Each of these types of plate boundaries is associated with different geological features. For example, sections of Earth’s crust can come together and collide (a “convergent” plate boundary), spread apart (a “divergent” plate boundary), or slide past one another (a “transform” plate boundary). There are many different types of plate boundaries. Volcanoes are also often found near plate boundaries because molten rock from deep within Earth-called magma-can travel upward at these intersections between plates. When Earth’s tectonic plates grind past one another, enormous amounts of energy can be released in the form of earthquakes. Plate boundaries are important because they are often associated with earthquakes and volcanoes. That is because its outer surface is composed of about 20 tectonic plates, enormous sections of Earth’s crust that roughly fit together and meet at places called plate boundaries. One example of a transform boundary on land is the San Andreas fault line in California.In some ways, Earth resembles a giant jigsaw puzzle. These boundaries mostly happen on the ocean floor, although some are known to appear on land. This movement creates a transform fault or a boundary. Transform fault boundaries are defined by the movement when two plates slide past each other. Transform Fault Boundaries And Plate Boundary Zones This is how the boundary between India and Asia was formed. They will push into each other and move the material upwards. If neither of the plates is noticeably heavier (meaning both are continental), neither will move under the other one. Several ranges throughout the world were created by the plates moving under each other. This influences the land as well, creating high mountain ranges. This trench is often close to continental land. Once this happens, a deep oceanic trench is formed. The crust which is heavier is usually the one that moves underneath the lighter crust. Whenever this happens, one of the plates starts to move underneath the other one. This means they are characterized by two plates moving towards each other. For those that didn’t, convergent boundaries happen in places where two plates meet. You probably already guessed what type of movement occurs in these boundaries. The Horn of Africa is a famous example of a rift zone. The plates start pulling away from each other and lava is released to create a new crust. The thing that is common in rift zones is high volcanic activity. The area between the plates is known as the rift zone. This movement is the plates pulling away from each other. Divergent Boundariesĭivergent boundaries occur when a specific movement happens between the plates. These boundaries describe how the plates are moving, which is what we will be talking about in this article. There are 4 different types of tectonic plate boundaries. These plates move and interact with each other, and today we already know plenty about them. These studies describe the crust of our planet as being made up of different plates. This theory gave birth to modern studies of plate tectonics. At first the majority of scientists were highly critical of his work, and it was not until the 1960s that it was accepted as scientifically true. However, in 1915, Alfred Wegener presented the theory of continental drift. Understanding how the plates in our planet’s crust move, was something scientists struggled with for years. It is a dynamic structure and this can be best seen whenever an earthquake occurs. The crust of our planet is constantly evolving and changing.
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