Activity 4

Divergent and
Transform
fault
boundaries
 Three Basic Types of Plate Boundaries
Using hands to show relative motion
Divergent

Convergent

Transform

USGS Graphics
 Divergent Boundaries
• Boundary between two plates
that are moving apart or rifting
🡪🡪
• RIFTING causes SEAFLOOR
SPREADING
 Features of Divergent
Boundaries
• Mid-ocean Ridges
• Rift Valleys
• Fissure Volcanoes
• Linear Sea
 Divergent Boundaries
• Divergent Boundaries are the boundaries
between two plates that are diverging, or
moving away from each other.
 Divergent Boundaries

• Spreading ridges
– As plates move apart new material is erupted to fill
the gap
 Seafloor Spreading
• Hess proposed that hot, less
dense material below Earth’s
crust rises toward the
surface at the mid-ocean
ridges.
• Then, it flows sideways,
carrying the seafloor away
from the ridge in both
directions.

Picture from http://library.thinkquest.org/17457/platetectonics/4.php

 Seafloor Spreading
• As the seafloor spreads apart at a mid-ocean
ridge, new seafloor is created.
• The older seafloor moves away from the ridge in
opposite directions.
• This helped explain how the crust could
move—something that the continental drift
hypothesis could not do.

Picture from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/tectonics/divergent.html

Iceland: An example of continental rifting
• Iceland has a divergent plate
boundary running through its
middle
 Fissure Volcanoes
Spreading Center Volcanism

As the hot asthenosphere rises to shallow levels, it decompresses and

melts to produce basalt magmas. These magmas pond in crustal
magma chambers where they are periodically tapped by vertical
fractures that provide conduits for the rapid rise of magma to the
surface. The eruptions produced in this manner are typically fissure
eruptions. The erupting basalt can generate vast submarine lava fields.
Typically, the lava quenches quickly against the bottom waters to
produce characteristic bulbous shapes called pillow basalt.
Linear Sea
Rift valley
Rift valley
Transform Fault Boundaries
• Boundary between two plates
that are sliding past each other
• EARTHQUAKES occur along faults
 Transform Fault Boundaries
• Transform Boundaries are the boundaries
between two plates that are sliding
horizontally past one another.
Pacific
Hot
Spot
Tracks
San Andreas Fault, CA
 Transform Boundaries
• Where plates slide past each other

Above: View of the San Andreas

transform fault