Destructive, constructive and conservative plate margins. Processes: seismicity and vulcanicity.

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Associated landforms: young fold mountains, rift valleys, ocean ridges, deep sea trenches and island arcs. more

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Volcanoes and earthquakes mainly occur along plate boundaries where magma can escape from the earth’s
mantle or where stresses build up between 2 plates rubbing together. An exception to this includes Hawaii,
which is found in the middle of the Pacific plate over a hot spot.

You can see a real time seismic monitor here, and real time volcanic activity here.
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Constructive or Divergent Margins

At these types of plate margins two plates are moving apart (DIVERGE) from each other in opposite directions.
Convection currents moving in opposite directions (caused by the intense heat of the Earth's interior) in the
mantle move two plates apart. This is a process known as sea floor spreading developed by Hess. As these plates
move apart this leaves cracks and fissures, lines of weakness that allows magma from the mantle to escapes
from the highly pressurised interior of the planet. This magma fills the gap and eventually erupts onto the
surface and cools as new land. The lava erupting is Andesitic, so can travel long distances and creates gently
sloping land features. This can create huge ridges of undersea mountains and volcanoes such as the Mid-Atlantic
Ridge and where these mountains poke above the level of the Sea Islands are created. Both earthquakes and
volcanoes can result at these margins, the earthquakes caused by the movement of magma through the crust. A
really good example of this is the mid Atlantic Ridge, where the Eurasian plate moves away from the North
American plate at a rate of around 4cm per year. Iceland owes its existence to this ridge. Indeed, the Atlantic
Ocean did not exist approximately 150million years ago. The ridge is not a continuous linear line in the ocean. It
is offset and has Transform faults running off it at right angles. These transform faults can cause earthquakes as
they are prone to lateral movement. The constructive margin has split the continent of Laurasia into 2, and
evidence of this can be seen in the geology of the Caledonide mountains in North America and Europe.

This process can also happen to a continent. Along the Great African Rift valley in Eastern Africa, The Eastern
section is moving north east whilst the Western section is moving West and North West. This brittle crust is
therefore fracturing and as the crust moves apart some sections have dropped downwards to from the Western
and eastern rift valleys. The area is also characterised by volcanoes in the East such as Kilimanjaro and in the
West such as Ruwenzori. The valley is over 4,000km in length and its sides can be over 600m in height.

Recall, sea floor spreading like this ties in with Paleaomagnetism and evidence for Plate Tectonics, more
information can be seen at this link.
Above - The African Rift Valley - Source

Right - How the African Rift valley forms, and

how it could develop into a new ocean
complete with mid ocean ridge. Source/a>

Destructive or Convergent Margins

At these margins 2 plates move or CONVERGE together and the Destruction of some of the Earth's crust results.
These margins are mainly found around the edges of oceans and the majority are found around the Pacific
Ocean in what is known as the Ring of Fire. An oceanic plate (denser) is pushed towards a continental plate (less
dense) by convection currents deep within the Earth's interior. The oceanic plate is subducted (pushed under)
the continental plate at what is called a subduction zone, creating a deep ocean trench. It is the Oceanic crust
which sinks down into the mantle because it is denser (heavier). The subducting crust is pushed down at varying
angles, beneath Peru it is 10-15° whilst below Japan the Pacific Plate subducts at 40 to 45°. As it descends
friction, increasing pressure and heat from the asthenosphere (and mantle) melt the plate.

Some of this molten material can work its way up through the continental crust through fissures and cracks in
the crust to collect in magma chambers. This is often some distance from the margin where magma can
eventually re-emerge at the surface to create a range of volcanic mountains or if the plates colliding are both
Oceanic a volcanic island arc will result (a great example is japan, or the Aleutian Islands, both curved lines of
volcanoes). The volcanoes tend to be very explosive, because the resulting magma from subduction is Silica rich
Andesitic magma, gas laden and explosive. The movement of the plates grinding past one another can create
earthquakes, when one plate eventually slips past the other releasing seismic energy. This occurs along the
inclined zone of subduction, and it is here in the Benioff zone that shallow, intermediate and deep earthquakes
can occur.

These earthquakes have different causes;

· Shallow earthquakes in the descending slab occur as a result of fracturing in the outer part of the
downward bending OCEANIC crust.

· Shallow earthquakes in the CONTINENTAL lithosphere are caused by block uplift and subsidence caused by
the subducting oceanic crust

· Intermediate and deep earthquakes are caused by compression and extension of the crust, and because
stresses builds up between the plates as one plate passes another. As the plates move past one another they
don't do so smoothly, rather, they snag and grind, allowing energy to build up. When the plates eventually move
again this energy is released as shock or seismic waves through the Earth's crust.

Fold mountains also result at these margins, where layers of rock within the continental crust are folded up
(anticlines) and down (synclines) as the continental crust is crumpled up and above the oceanic lithosphere. The
Andes Mountains are formed this way, where the South American plate is being crumpled up above the
subducting Nazca plate, and these huge mountains have both an Occidental and Oriental range or Cordillera.
You can look at the GCSE information on this here. Indeed, the Andes are the world's longest continental
mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is
about 7,000 km long, about 200 km to 700 km wide and of an average height of about 4,000 m. The Andes
extend from north to south through seven South American countries; Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia,
Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.
The cross section above shows the tectonic situation across South America, which gives rise to the Andes fold
mountains and volcanoes like Chaiten.

The Andes range is the world's highest mountain range outside of the continent of Asia. The highest peak is a
volcano, Mt. Aconcagua, rises to an elevation of about 6,962 m above sea level. This is further proof of the
subduction occurring here. Indeed, the world's highest volcanoes are in the Andes, including Ojos del Salado on
the Chile-Argentina frontier which rises to 6,893 m, and over 50 other volcanoes that rise above 6,000 m
(source). The Andes also have a Trench, the Peru-Chile Trench, which is also known as the Atacama Trench. This
ocean trench is approximately 160 km off the coast of Peru and Chile. It reaches a maximum depth of 8,065
metres below sea level in a place called Richards Deep and is approximately 5,900 kilometres long; its mean
width is 64 kilometres. It is the result of subduction, and the distance of 160km from the coastlines of Peru and
Chile give you an indication of just how far in distance the oceanic plate subducts under the continental
lithosphere before mountain building (orogeny) can occur. The other interesting fact is that from the bottom of
the Trench to the peak of the mountains is a difference of over 15,000m, a huge difference in elevation!

Tsunamis are located one of the secondary hazards which are associated with these types of plate margins.

There are several really good examples of Destructive plate margins, including along the West coast of the
Americas and Japan, where the Philippines sea plate is pushed under the Eurasian plate.
CContinent to continent Collision

At these margins 2 plates of similar density are forced toward each other. Neither plate descends into the mantle
because of the similar density of the plates. Instead, the 2 plates crumple into one another and fold upwards into
fold mountains. At these margins we get fold mountains and earthquake activity, and a fantastic example of this
is the Himalayan mountains. Here, the Indo Australian plate is colliding with the Eurasian plate and has done so
for millions of years. Originally, there used to be a sea called the Tethys Sea between India and Asia, but over
time India has collided into Eurasia creating huge fold mountains rich in marine (sea) fossils! There are high levels
of seismicity including events in Gujarat (2001), Kashmir (2005), and Sichuan (2008)

Island arcs – these are curved landforms that result from oceanic to oceanic convergence (or the seaward
extension of a continental plate and rogeny (mountain building – in this case volcanic mountain building). The
subduction of one plate under the other creates new land, and when that erupts above the surface a chain of
islands are formed, often Curved in a line, such as the Aleutian Islands Near Alaska or Tonga.

Conservative margins

At conservative margins mountains are not made, volcanic eruptions do not happen and crust is not destroyed.
Instead, 2 plates either slide past each other in opposite directions, or 2 plates slide past each other at different
speeds. As they move past each other friction builds as the plates snag and grind on one another, and parts of
the fault line “LOCK”. When this stress energy is eventually released it sends shock waves through the earth’s
crust. We know these shock waves as earthquakes, and a good example of this is the San Andreas Fault in
California, where the Pacific plate is moving NW at a faster rate than the North American plate. Indeed, the San
Andreas Fault separates south western California from the rest of North America. The relative motion between
the plates is around 6.3cm per year, with the Pacific plate slipping North West of the North American plate. In
millions of years’ time (10 million at current rates of movement) Los Angeles will be abreast of San Francisco!
The earthquakes along these fault lines are almost always very shallow in focus because of the lateral
movement. There are also a series of strike slip faults here too. This movement caused the Loma Prieta
earthquake in 1989 , which had a deeper than normal hypocentre or focus of 15-18km. Another example is the
Alpine fault in New Zealand, which caused the Christchurch Earthquake of 2011. Another example is the North
Anatolian fault line in Northern Turkey, responsible for the Izmit Earthquake which claimed 20,000 lives in 1999.
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