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How to Describe Each Type of Plate Boundaries

Tectonic plate theory is the idea that the crust of the earth is made up of layers of rock which float on an ocean of lava. As this lava churns and boils, the plates which are floating on top of it move and crash into one another. This creates earthquakes, volcanoes and new landmass. There are three primary kinds of boundaries which plates interact with one another along -- convergent, divergent and transform boundaries.

Instructions

    • 1

      Describe divergent boundaries. These are places where two plates are drifting apart. This is where new land mass is created from the lava which is bubbling up from underneath. There is a famous divergent fault in Iceland. The land cycle starts at divergent boundaries.

    • 2

      Move on to transform boundaries. These are places where two plates brush against one another moving in different directions. These are best described by thinking of two gears moving along side one another. A famous example of this kind of fault is the San Andreas fault in the western United States.

    • 3

      Finish with convergent boundaries. These are places in the crust where two plates crash into each other. They can be two pieces of continental plates, two pieces of oceanic plate or a combination of the both. These are very active and potentially destructive faults. When one plate dives below the other, this is called a subordination zone. Subordination zones are the end of the land cycle where crustal material is recycled.

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