Ilkerender, “Kathmandu, Nepal, Himalayas, Everest”, May 5, 2008 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution-Non Comercisl-NonDerivs

theory proposed in 1960’s and 70’s

Multiple individual plates

Located in the lithosphere

Move at different speeds

Move in different directions

African Plate

Antarctic Plate

Indo-Australian Plate

Eurasian Plate

North American Plate

South American Plate

Pacific Plate

Dr.JohnBullas, “PlateTecto_web”, November 2, 2007 via Flickr, Creative Commons Atribution-Non Commercial-NoDerivs

Two plates meeting head to head

Three different types of plate boundaries

Different geographic features associated with each

TomDoyle, “Table Top Mt.Unalaka Island”, June 13, 2007 via Flickr, Creative Commons Atribution-Non Commercial-NoDerivs

Plates collide

3 different situations

1) Oceanic –

Continental

2) Oceanic – Oceanic

3) Continental -

ContinentalRyan VandenAkker, “convergent boundary” October 3, 2010 via Paint

Mountains

Volcanoes

Earthquakes

Island Arcs Mono, “Siera Velluda- 3585 mts’’, October 7, 2006 via Flickr, Creative Commons Atribution-Non Commercial-NoDerivs

Himalayas; Asia

Aleutian Islands;

Northern Pacific

Ocean

Andes; South

America

Mariana Trench;

Western Pacific

Ocean

Pontic Mountains;

Northern Turkey

Karabrugman, “the san andreas fault” March 23, 2010 via Flickr, Creative commons Attribution-NonComercial- NoDerivs

Plates “slide” past

one another in

opposite directions

Transform fault-

the fracture

zone between

plates

Ryan VandenAkker, “transform boundary” October 3, 2010 via Paint

Transform Faults

Reoccurring

earthquakes

Usually lack

volcanoesFrank Officeier, “San Andreas Fault 2” May 23, 2007, Creative commons Attribution-NonComercial- NoDerivs

San Andreas Fault

Zone; North America

Alpine Fault; New

Zealand

Dead Sea Transform

Fault; Middle East

Chaman Fault;

Pakistan

North Anatolian Fault;

Turkey

Queen Charlotte Fault;

North America

Debcha, “Southwest Rift”, June 30 2007, Creative commons Attribution-NonComercial- NoDerivs

Plates move

away from one

another.

Space in-

between fills

with magma

and hardens.

Ryan VandenAkker, “divergent boundary” October 3, 2010 via Paint

Mid-ocean

ridges

Continental

Rifts

Rift Valleys

Volcanic

Islands

Hot Spots

Dale Ghent, “La Cumbre lava flow”, April 23 2009 via Flickr, Creative commons Attribution- NonComercial- NoDerivs

Mid-Atlantic Ridge;

Atlantic Ocean

Great Rift Valley; East

Africa

Red Sea Lift

East African Rift

East Pacific Rise;

Pacific Ocean

Explorer Ridge; West

of Canada

Baikal Rift Zone;

Southeast Russia

Gakkel Ridge; Arctic

Ocean

Pacific-Antarctic

Ridge; Southern

Pacific Ocean

West Antarctic Rift;

Antarctica

Galapagos Rise