Plate Tectonics PT 2 - Plate Boundaries

PLATE BOUNDARIES
[A] Destructive/ convergent
[B] Constructive/divergent
[C] Conservative
[A] Destructive/convergent plate boundaries

This is the boundary that marks where two plates have collided.
There are three types of such destructive plate boundaries:
[i] Oceanic vs. Continental

In this case, the oceanic crust is colliding with a continental crust.
The oceanic crust, because of its higher density is subducted
below the lighter continental plate.
This subducted oceanic plate reaches the hot asthenosphere
where it is partially melted to produce basaltic magma
Due to its buoyancy the magma formed then rises vertically
where it intrudes the overlying continental crust or it may extrude
onto the surface giving us hazardous volcanic mountains.
Examples of volcanic mountains are Mt St Helens in the state of
Washington
Meanwhile, sediments that once existed above the subducted
oceanic crust are intensely folded by the compressional forces of
the two plates to produce high-rise Fold Mountains. Examples of
such fold mountains are the Cascade ranges and the Sierra Nevada
off the coast of California and the Andes Mts in South America.
The subducting oceanic crust bends at the point of collision with the
continental crust forming deep trenches e.g., the Peru-Chile trench
which was formed when the Nazca plate collided with the South
American plate.
[ii] Oceanic vs. Oceanic

When the two oceanic plates collide the older, faster-moving plate is
the one that is subducted below the low-motion and lighter plate.
When the subducting plate reaches the hot asthenosphere partial

melting takes place to form magma. The formed magma then rises
until it extrudes onto the sea floor where it rapidly cools to form
volcanic rocks.
As more and more magma comes out, the rock piles begin to grow
until they break sea level to form groups of islands that are called island arcs. Examples of island arcs re the
country Japan, New Zealand, Tonga islands, etc.
Meanwhile at the point of collision, the subducting plate also bends to form an oceanic trench e.g. the Japan
Trench, Aleutian trench, Philippian trench.
[iii] Continental vs Continental

At the beginning, the two continents are separated by an ocean,
whose oceanic crust is slowly being subducted below one of the
continent, as shown above.
Meanwhile the sediments on the ocean floor are intensively folded
to form high rise Fold Mountains. Examples of such folds mountains
are all the ranges that make up the Alpine-Himalayan series namely,
the atlas, the alps, the Balkan, the Caucus and the Zagros mountain
in Iran
Meanwhile the oceanic crust is whole buried below the two
continents where it exists as remnants below the continents.
Periodically the remnant oceanic crust makes it presents known by
occasionally belching out magma which forms the world’s most
dangerous volcanic mountains e.g. mount Vesuvius near Naples in
Italy.
▪ A case in point is that Laurasia and Gondwanaland were separated
by Tethys Sea. Tethys sea sediments were slowly folded when
Laurasia and Gondwanaland began to approach each other.
Eventually Tethys Sea was closed up and its sediments were folded
to give us the Alpine- Himalayan series of mountains.
Atlas mountains of Morocco
(For personal reference)

[B] CONSTRUCTIVE PLATE BOUNDARY
Such a boundary is formed when two plates are moving away from each other.
Stages in the formation of a constructive plate boundary (The Sea Floor Spreading
Hypothesis)
1. Upwarping Stage
▪ Initially, the upwelling of asthenosphere material causes the lithosphere to upwarp or to up

dome as shown in the diagram above.
▪ The upwarping results in crustal fracturing of the continent.
▪ The magma from the asthenosphere takes advantage of the fractures to belch out, forming
volcanoes that are apparent in in the areas experiencing divergence, : Erta Ale, Ethiopia;
Mount Kenya, Kenya (an extinct stratovolcano); Ol Doinyo Lengai, Tanzania; Mount
Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (a dormant stratovolcano); and Mount Nyiragongo, Democratic
Republic of Congo.
2. Rift Valley Stage
▪ Convectional currents in the asthenosphere begin to pull the two prospective plates, Plate A and B
apart.
▪ The tensional forces or rifting that occur causes the downfaulting of the central blocks as the shoulders
drift away.
▪ The down faulting that takes place creates a linear ‘Rift Valley’ which is narrow depression that is
flanked by step faults on either side, as shown on the diagram above.
▪ The continued thinning of the crust that happens with rifting continues to allow magma to pour out
resulting in more volcanoes forming.
▪ The valley floor can be occupied by rainwater over millions of years, forming linear continental lakes
such as those of East Africa, namely Lake Malawi, Lake Tanganyika and Lake Turkana.
3. The Sea stage
▪ Gradually, the rift valley widens and the down faulting that continues to occur forms a much wider
depression that holds more water.
▪ Over a longer period of time, as more and more rainfall fall and accumulates on the valley floor, the
valley is transformed into a narrow linear sea.
▪ This is the stage so far reached by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Many rift valleys are part of “triple
junctions,” a type of divergent boundary where three tectonic plates meet at about 120° angles.
▪ Two arms of the triple junction can split to form an entire ocean. The third, “failed rift” or aulacogen,
becomes a rift valley.
▪ The Atlantic Ocean, for instance, is a result of a triple junction that started in what is now the Gulf of
Guinea on the west coast of Africa. Two arms of a triple junction on
the supercontinent Pangaea “opened” the ocean, while the aulacogen formed the rift valley known as
the Benue Trough through what is now southern Nigeria.
▪ Similarly for East Africa, two arms of the triple junction opened to form the Red Sea and the Gulf of
Aden, the failed arm formed the east African rift valley.
4. The ocean stage
▪ Further Sea-floor spreading allows for massive outpouring of magma from the asthenosphere to fill up
the gaps that are created by rifting two plates.
▪ At the surface, the magma, now referred to as lava, is cooled by the cold water, whereupon it solidifies
to form new oceanic crust.
▪ As rifting continues, more and more magma comes and it pushes the older formed ocean crust rocks
away. This explains why at the centre there are newer rocks but at passive continental margin there
are older rocks.
▪ Meanwhile, the center of the separation, the rocks are always hotter because of the proximity to the
magma from the asthenosphere.
▪ The rocks therefore become lighter and tend to rise. This rise then forms an elongate underwater
mountain that is called Mid Oceanic Ridge.
▪ At the point of separation of the plates, (middle of the Oceanic Ridge) a rift valley is formed due to
tensional forces that cause the downfaulting of the middle block. Over millions of years, the Mid-
Atlantic Ridge has formed rift valleys as wide as 15 kilometres.
▪ In the Pacific Ocean, the East Pacific Rise has created rift valleys where the Pacific plate is separating
from the North American plate, Cocos plate, Nazca plate, and Antarctic plate. Like many underwater
rift valleys, the East Pacific Rise is dotted with hydrothermal vents. Geologic activity beneath the
underwater rift valley creates these vents, which spew super-heated water and vent fluids into the
ocean.
[C] CONSERVATIVE/ TRANSFORM PLATE BOUNDARY
It occurs when two plates are sliding past each other therefore there is neither destruction nor construction
hence the term conservative.
The famous San Andreas Fault in California is an example of a constructive plate boundary separating the south-
moving North American plate from the north-moving Juan De Fuca plate.

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PLATE BOUNDARIES

[A] Destructive/ convergent

[A] Destructive/convergent plate boundaries

There are three types of such destructive plate boundaries:

[i] Oceanic vs. Continental

[ii] Oceanic vs. Oceanic

When the subducting plate reaches the hot asthenosphere partial

[iii] Continental vs Continental

Atlas mountains of Morocco

(For personal reference)

▪ Initially, the upwelling of asthenosphere material causes the lithosphere to upwarp or to up

2. Rift Valley Stage

4. The ocean stage

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