Earth:List of tectonic plate interactions

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Short description: Movements of Earth's lithosphere


Three types of plate boundary
Convergent boundary
Divergent boundary
Transform boundary

Tectonic plate interactions are classified into three basic types:[1]

  • Convergent boundaries are areas where plates move toward each other and collide. These are also known as compressional or destructive boundaries.
    • Obduction zones occurs when the continental plate is pushed under the oceanic plate, but this is unusual as the relative densities of the tectonic plates favours subduction of the oceanic plate. This causes the oceanic plate to buckle and usually results in a new mid-ocean ridge forming and turning the obduction into subduction.[citation needed]
    • Orogenic belts occur where two continental plates collide and push upwards to form large mountain ranges. These are also known as collision boundaries.
    • Subduction zones occur where an oceanic plate meets a continental plate and is pushed underneath it. Subduction zones are marked by oceanic trenches. The descending end of the oceanic plate melts and creates pressure in the mantle, causing volcanoes to form.
      • Back-arc basins can form from extension in the overriding plate, in response to the displacement of the subducting slab at some oceanic trenches. This paradoxically results in divergence which was only incorporated in the theory of plate tectonics in 1970, but still results in net destruction when summed over major plate boundaries.[2]
  • Divergent boundaries are areas where plates move away from each other, forming either mid-ocean ridges or rift valleys. These are also known as constructive boundaries.
  • Transform boundaries occur when two plates grind past each other with only limited convergent or divergent activity.

Convergent boundaries (subduction zones)

Main page: Earth:Convergent boundary
See also: Obduction

Back arc basins

  • These are often associated with minor plates and include:
    • The Tyrrhenian Basin
    • The Mariana Trough
    • The North Fiji Basin
    • The Lau Basin

Orogenic belts

Main page: Physics:Orogeny
  • The most dramatic orogenic belt on the planet is the one between the African Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate on one side (to the south) and the Eurasian Plate on the other side (to the north). This belt runs from New Zealand in the east-south-east, through Indonesia, along the Himalayas, through the Middle East up to the Mediterranean in the west-north-west. It is also called the "Tethyan" Zone, as it constitutes the zone along which the ancient Tethys Ocean was deformed and disappeared. The following mountain belts can be distinguished:
    • The European Alps
    • The Carpathians
    • The Pyrenees
    • The Apennines
    • The Dinarides
    • The North African mountain belts such as the Atlas Mountains
    • The Karst Plateau of the Balkan Peninsula
    • The Caucasus
    • The Zagros
    • The Himalayas
    • The Indonesian Archipelago
    • The Southern Alps of New Zealand
  • The Andes orogenic belt is the latest of a series of orogenies along the western margin of the South American Plate.

Divergent boundaries

Main page: Earth:Divergent boundary
Plate tectonics map

Transform boundaries

Main page: Earth:Transform fault
  • The San Andreas Fault in California is an active transform boundary. The Pacific Plate (carrying the city of Los Angeles ) is moving northwards with respect to the North American Plate.
  • The Queen Charlotte Fault on the Pacific Northwest coast of North America
  • The Motagua Fault, which crosses through Guatemala, is a transform boundary between the southern edge of the North American Plate and the northern edge of the Caribbean Plate.
  • New Zealand's Alpine Fault is another active transform boundary.
  • The Dead Sea Transform (DST) fault which runs through the Jordan River Valley in the Middle East.
  • The Owen Fracture Zone along the southeastern boundary of the Arabian Plate.
  • The East Anatolian and North Anatolian faults run across much of Turkey and cause large and deadly earthquakes such as the 1999 İzmit earthquake

See also

References

  1. "Tectonic Plates and Plate Boundaries". http://www.gns.cri.nz/Home/Learning/Science-Topics/Earthquakes/Earthquakes-at-a-Plate-Boundary/Tectonic-Plates-and-Plate-Boundaries. 
  2. Karig, Daniel E (1970). "Ridges and basins of the Tonga-Kermadec island arc system". Journal of Geophysical Research 75 (2): 239–254. doi:10.1029/JB075i002p00239. Bibcode1970JGR....75..239K.