Plate Boundaries

Divergent plate boundaries are locations where plates are moving away from one another. This occurs above rising
convection currents. The rising current pushes up on the bottom of the lithosphere, lifting it and flowing laterally beneath it. This lateral
flow causes the plate material above to be dragged along in the direction of flow. At the crest of the uplift, the overlying plate is
stretched thin, breaks and pulls apart. There are two types of Divergent Boundary: (1.) Oceanic Divergent Boundary; and (2.)
Continental Divergent Boundary.

Oceanic Divergent Boundary

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a classic example of this type of plate boundary. The Ridge is a high area compared to the
surrounding seafloor because of the lift from the convection current below it.
Continental Divergent Boundary
The East Africa Rift Valley is a classic example of this type of plate boundary. The East Africa Rift is in an early stage of
development. The plate has not been completely rifted, and the rift valley is still above sea level but occupied by lakes at several
locations. The Red Sea is an example of a more completely developed rift. There the plates have fully separated, and the central rift
valley has dropped below sea level.

Convergent Plate Boundaries are locations where lithospheric plates are moving towards one another. The plate collisions that occur
in these areas can produce earthquakes, volcanic activity, and crustal deformation. There are three types of Convergent Plate
Boundaries: (1) Continent-Continent Convergent Plate Boundary; (2) Continent- Oceanic Convergent Plate Boundary; and (3) Oceanic
-Oceanic Plate Boundary.

Continental-Continental Convergent Plate Boundary

These boundaries encompass a thick mess of folded, piled-up crust. This compression results in massive mountain belts  
E.g. Indian Plate drives into the Eurasian Plate resulting to the greatest mountains in the world – the Himalayas.
Continental- Oceanic Convergent Plate Boundary
This happens when oceanic and continental plates collide. The oceanic plate subducts beneath the continental plate for
ocean crust is denser (rich in iron and magnesium) than continental rock. Here again a subduction zone occurs, as does a volcanic
arc that develops on the continental side of the boundary; in between, sediments sloughed up against the continental margin form
an accretionary wedge.
E.g. The Western coast of the Americas, part of the Pacific Ring of Fire
E.g. Along the Pacific Northwest coast, oceanic plates subducting beneath the North American Plate which created the
Cascadia Subduction Zone, fueling the Cascade Range volcanoes
Oceanic -Oceanic Plate Boundary.
When two oceanic plates collide, one runs over the other which causes it to sink into the mantle forming a subduction zone.
Subduction, is a geophysical process in which two or more of Earth's tectonic plates converge and the older, denser plate is pushed
beneath the lighter plate and deep into the mantle, causing the seafloor and outermost crust (the lithosphere) to bend and form a steep,
V-shaped depression forming trenches. The world’s deepest parts of the ocean are found along trenches.
E.g. The Mariana Trench is 11 km deep!
Transform Plate Boundaries are locations where two plates slide past one another. The fracture zone that forms a transform
plate boundary is known as a transform fault. Most transform faults are found in the ocean basin and connect offsets in the mid-ocean
ridges. A smaller number connect mid-ocean ridges and subduction zones.
E.g. Alpine Fault of New Zealand. Both the San Andreas Fault and the Alpine Fault