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Types of plate boundaries
Three types of plate boundaries exist, characterized by the way the plates move relative to each other. They are associated with different types of surface phenomena. The different types of plate boundaries are:
1. Transform boundaries: occur where plates slide or, perhaps more accurately, grind past each other along transform faults. The relative motion of the two plates is either sinistral (left side toward the observer) or dextral (right side toward the observer).
2. Divergent boundaries: occur where two plates slide apart from each other (examples of which can be seen at mid-ocean ridges and active zones of rifting (such as with the East Africa rift)).
3. Convergent boundaries (or active margins):occur where two plates slide towards each other commonly forming either a subduction zone (if one plate moves underneath the other) or a continental collision (if the two plates contain continental crust). Deep marine trenches are typically associated with subduction zones. Because of friction and heating of the subducting slab, volcanism is almost always closely linked. Examples of this are the Andes mountain range in South America and the Japanese island arc.
Major plates
The main plates are
• African Plate, covering Africa - Continental plate
• Antarctic Plate, covering Antarctica - Continental plate
• Australian Plate, covering Australia (fused with Indian Plate between 50 and 55 million years ago) - Continental plate
• Eurasian Plate covering Asia and Europe - Continental plate
• North American Plate covering North America and north-east Siberia - Continental plate
• South American Plate covering South America - Continental plate
• Pacific Plate, covering the Pacific Ocean - Oceanic plate
Notable minor plates include the Indian Plate, the Arabian Plate, the Caribbean Plate, the Juan de Fuca Plate, the Nazca Plate, the Philippine Plate and the Scotia Plate.
The movement of plates has caused the formation and break-up of continents over time, including occasional formation of a supercontinent that contains most or all of the cont
inents. The supercontinent Rodinia is thought to have formed about 1000 million years ago and to have embodied most or all of Earth's continents, and broken up into eight continents around 600 million years ago. The eight continents later re-assembled into another supercontinent called Pangaea; Pangea eventually broke up into Laurasia (which became North America and Eurasia) and Gondwana (which became the remaining continents).
*Note:For more information just visit to wikipedia as i have collected only few important matters from there.
Source: Wikipedia
Collected By:Saurav Chakraborty
Three types of plate boundaries exist, characterized by the way the plates move relative to each other. They are associated with different types of surface phenomena. The different types of plate boundaries are:
1. Transform boundaries: occur where plates slide or, perhaps more accurately, grind past each other along transform faults. The relative motion of the two plates is either sinistral (left side toward the observer) or dextral (right side toward the observer).
2. Divergent boundaries: occur where two plates slide apart from each other (examples of which can be seen at mid-ocean ridges and active zones of rifting (such as with the East Africa rift)).
3. Convergent boundaries (or active margins):occur where two plates slide towards each other commonly forming either a subduction zone (if one plate moves underneath the other) or a continental collision (if the two plates contain continental crust). Deep marine trenches are typically associated with subduction zones. Because of friction and heating of the subducting slab, volcanism is almost always closely linked. Examples of this are the Andes mountain range in South America and the Japanese island arc.
Major plates
The main plates are
• African Plate, covering Africa - Continental plate
• Antarctic Plate, covering Antarctica - Continental plate
• Australian Plate, covering Australia (fused with Indian Plate between 50 and 55 million years ago) - Continental plate
• Eurasian Plate covering Asia and Europe - Continental plate
• North American Plate covering North America and north-east Siberia - Continental plate
• South American Plate covering South America - Continental plate
• Pacific Plate, covering the Pacific Ocean - Oceanic plate
Notable minor plates include the Indian Plate, the Arabian Plate, the Caribbean Plate, the Juan de Fuca Plate, the Nazca Plate, the Philippine Plate and the Scotia Plate.
The movement of plates has caused the formation and break-up of continents over time, including occasional formation of a supercontinent that contains most or all of the cont
inents. The supercontinent Rodinia is thought to have formed about 1000 million years ago and to have embodied most or all of Earth's continents, and broken up into eight continents around 600 million years ago. The eight continents later re-assembled into another supercontinent called Pangaea; Pangea eventually broke up into Laurasia (which became North America and Eurasia) and Gondwana (which became the remaining continents).*Note:For more information just visit to wikipedia as i have collected only few important matters from there.
Source: Wikipedia
Collected By:Saurav Chakraborty
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