Earth's Plates

• Earth's crust is broken into 2 plates

• Continental crust

• Oceanic crust

3 plate boundaries

• Convergent

• Divergent

• Transform

Transform boundaries

• When the crust (plates) shift or slide past one another, it isn't a smooth movement

• Earthquakes are felt when these plates move

• The crack in the crust is called a plate boundary or fault line

• The San Andreas fault in California is an example

Divergent Boundary

• Plates divide or separate

• This is called seafloor spreading

• Magma comes up and cools into rock to create new ocean crust

• A mid ocean ridge is formed (volcanic mountains)

• Younger rock is near the ridge and they get older as you move away

Convergent Boundary

• When 2 continental plates collide they fold up and make a mountain

Convergent Boundary

• When one continental and one oceanic plate collide, the heavier oceanic plate sinks

• This sinking process is called subduction

• The continental crust pushes up into a mountain

• The old subducting curst melts into magma forcing it to go up into the mountain making it a volcanic mountain

• A deep ocean trench is also formed when the oceanic plate sinks

Convergent Boundary

• When one oceanic plate collides with another oceanic plate, the older heavier oceanic plate will sink, or subduct

• A deep ocean trench is formed

• The older crust will melt into magma and form volcanic islands