Transform Boundaries, earthquakes and volcanoes

Himalayas

Mountain range formed by the collision of the Indian plate with the Asian plate around 45 million years ago.

Alps

Mountain range created by the collision of Italy and Europe; currently inactive.

Appalachians

Mountain range in the Eastern U.S. formed by the collision that created the supercontinent Pangea and has been inactive for over 300 million years.

Caledonian Mountains

Mountain range in Scandinavia that was once connected to the Appalachians when Pangea was assembled.

Transform boundaries

Plate boundaries where two plates slide past each other laterally; characterized by strike/slip faults and no volcanic activity.

San Andreas Fault

A major transform fault in California that separates the Pacific Plate from the North American Plate.

Haiti Earthquake of 2010

A devastating earthquake with approximately 200,000 fatalities that occurred along a strike-slip fault in the Caribbean.

Alpine Fault

A major fault in New Zealand that is a boundary between the Australian and Pacific plates.

Ocean Ridges

Segment of mid-ocean ridges that are offset by transform faults; ridges are divergent boundaries.

Volcanic activity at plate boundaries

Occurs at divergent and convergent boundaries with subduction; absent at transform and continent/continent convergent boundaries.

Earthquakes at plate boundaries

Occur at all boundaries, with the greatest magnitudes typically at convergent boundaries.