Table of Contents
What is a plate margin examples?
The rising magma forms shield volcanoes. Constructive (tensional) plate margins occur where plates move apart. Examples below include the South American Plate and African Plate and the Eurasian Plate and the North American Plate. Constructive boundaries are mainly located under the sea, e.g. the Mid Atlantic Ridge.
What is a plate margin GCSE?
The point at which two plates meet is called a plate boundary or margin.
What happens at a plate margin?
At a constructive plate margin the plates move apart from one another. When this happens the magma from the mantle rises up to make (or construct) new land in the form of a shield volcano. The movement of the plates over the mantle can cause earthquakes.
What are the 3 main plate margins?
There are three main types of plate boundaries:
- Convergent boundaries: where two plates are colliding. Subduction zones occur when one or both of the tectonic plates are composed of oceanic crust.
- Divergent boundaries – where two plates are moving apart.
- Transform boundaries – where plates slide passed each other.
What are the 4 different types of plate margins?
There are four main types of plate boundary. These are constructive, destructive, conservative and collision margins.
What happens at the 4 plate boundaries?
Divergent boundaries — where new crust is generated as the plates pull away from each other. Convergent boundaries — where crust is destroyed as one plate dives under another. Transform boundaries — where crust is neither produced nor destroyed as the plates slide horizontally past each other.
Why do plates move GCSE?
Plates are extremely heavy so gravity acts upon them, pulling them apart. Alternatively, as shown in the diagram, convection currents under the Earth’s crust transfer heat, which rises through the surface and cools back down in a circular motion. The convection currents move the plates.
What are the 4 plate margins?
Where are plate margins?
plate margin (plate boundary) The boundary of one of the plates that form the upper layer (the lithosphere) and together cover the surface of the Earth. Plate margins are characterized by a combination of tectonic and topographic features: oceanic ridges, Benioff zones, young fold mountains, and transform faults.
What are the 4 types of tectonic plate movement?
What are the major plate tectonic boundaries?
- Divergent: extensional; the plates move apart. Spreading ridges, basin-range.
- Convergent: compressional; plates move toward each other. Includes: Subduction zones and mountain building.
- Transform: shearing; plates slide past each other. Strike-slip motion.
Which is the best example of a convergent plate boundary?
The Cascade Mountain Range is a line of volcanoes above the melting oceanic plate. The Andes Mountain Range of western South America is another example of a convergent boundary between an oceanic and continental plate. Here the Nazca Plate is subducting beneath the South American plate.
What are the three different plate boundaries?
Divergent boundaries: where new crust is generated as the plates pull away from each other.
What are destructive plate margins?
A destructive plate boundary happens where an oceanic and continental plate move towards each other. The heavier, more dense oceanic plate is forced under the continental plate. Destructive plate margins occur where an oceanic and continental plate move towards each other.
What happens at plate boundaries?
Plate boundaries. Plates move away from one another at divergent boundaries. This happens at mid-ocean ridges. Plates move towards one another at convergent boundaries; one plate is forced below another in a process called subduction. Earthquakes and composite volcanoes are common at this type of boundary.
What are divergent plate margins?
Divergent Plate Margins. What are divergent plate margins. Divergent boundaries are formed when two adjacent tectonic plates separate (They diverge). When Earth’s brittle surface layer (the lithosphere ) is pulled apart it typically breaks along parallel faults.