Types of Tectonic Boundaries
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| Types of Tectonic Boundaries |
Divergent boundary—when plates diverge, spreading centers form creating new oceanic crust. Examples include mid-ocean ridges in world's ocean basins. Spreading centers occur where continents are pulling apart. Examples include the Africa rift zones, Red Sea basin, Iceland, and North America's Great Basin region including the Gulf of California.
Spreading center— A linear area where new crust forms where two crustal plates are moving apart, such as along a mid-oceanic ridge. Spreading centers are typically seismically active regions in ocean basins and may be regions of active or frequent volcanism.
Convergent boundary—when continents collide... mountains belts form - examples include the Himalayas, Alps, and ancient Appalachian Mountains when the ancient continent of Pangaea formed. When continents collide with ocean crust... subduction zones with deep ocean trenches and volcanic arcs form - examples include the Andes Mountains, Aleutian Islands, Japan, Philippines, Indonesia, the ancient Sierra Nevada and modern Cascades Range.
Subduction zone—a plate boundary along which one plate of the Earth’s outer shell descends (subducts) at an angle beneath another. A subduction zone is usually marked by a deep trench on the sea floor. An example is the Cascadia Subduction Zone offshore of Washington, Oregon, and northern California. Most tsunamis are generated by subduction-zone-related earthquakes.
Transform boundary—when plates slide past each other creating fault systems along plate margins. Examples include the San Andreas Fault and major faults in Pakistan, Turkey, and along the Jordan River/Dead Sea.
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