Types of Plate Boundaries
3 types of plate boundaries
Tectonic Plate Boundary: Where two tectonic plates meet.
Divergent Boundary : the boundary between two tectonic plates that are moving away from
each other. The plates are separating.
New sea-floor forms at
divergent boundaries.
Example: Mid-Ocean Ridge
Convergent Boundary: the boundary formed by the collision of two lithospheric plates (tectonic
plates).
3 types:
1. Continental – Continental
2. Continental – Oceanic
3. Oceanic - Oceanic
1. Continental – Continental Collision
They buckle and thicken which pushes the continental crust upward – Forms Mountains.
2. Continental – Oceanic Collision
The denser oceanic crust sinks into the asthenosphere. This is called a subduction zone. Old
ocean crust gets pushed into the asthenosphere where it is remelted and recycled. -Forms
trenches and volcanoes
3. Oceanic – Oceanic Collision
One of the plates with oceanic lithosphere is subducted, or sinks, under the other plate. -Forms
trenches and volcanic island arcs
Transform Boundary: The boundary between tectonic plates that are sliding past each other
horizontally.
The San Andres Fault in California is where
the Pacific and North American plates are
sliding past each other.
Because tectonic plates have irregular edges, they grind and jerk as they slide which produces
EARTHQUAKES!