Plate Tectonics

Convergent Boundary

Plates come together. Subduction, trenches, tsunamis, volcanos, mountains, and hydrothermal vents form here.

Collision forms mountains and volcanoes, or causes less dense plate to go beneath the other (subduction)

Divergent Boundary

Plates move away from each other- Earthquakes, abyssal plains, mid-ocean ridges, volcanos, and hydrothermal vents from here

Magma rises and forms new crust (mid-ocean ridges)

Transforming Boundary

Plates slide against each other- Earthquakes and abyssal plains form here

Lithosphere

Outer-layer of earth, tectonic plates are parts of this.

Trench

Formed at convergent boundaries where they collide

At subduction. As oceanic plate descends into mantle, it bends and creates deep depression in sea floor (trench)

Tsunami

Start at subduction zones

Can be caused by an earthquake, when stress builds and displaces large amounts of water

Volcano

Caused by both divergent and convergent boundaries

Convergent- Subduction zones when plates collide makes the denser plate melt into magma, rising and causing eruptions

Divergent- At rifts, magma rises directly from below to fill the gaps and forms volcanoes

Mountains

Convergent- plates collide and push up crust

Divergent- Magma rises through gas and forms volcanic mountains

Hydrothermal Vents

Formed by divergent boundaries on ocean floor

Water circulation- Cold seawater seeps into cracks of rifting plates, heating up underlying magma, and rising back up through ocean floor

Heated water carries minerals which precipitate and creates chimney structures as it exits vents

Abyssal Plains

Flat, deep-sea regions, formed by divergent boundaries

Found between continental margins and mid-ocean ridges, 3,000-6,000 meters of depth

Forms as new oceanic crust, spreads outward, cooling and settling over time

Mid-ocean Ridges

Formed at divergent boundaries

Underwater mountain ranges

As plates separate, magma rises, cools, and solidifies into new oceanic crust, expanding seafloor

Alfred Wegener

Creator of plate tectonics theory