Earth Science — Plate Tectonic Boundaries
Divergent, subducting convergent, collisional convergent and transform boundaries side by side, each with its landforms, seismicity, volcanism and a named example.
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"label": "Sea-floor spreading at 2–15 cm yr⁻¹, recorded as symmetric magnetic stripes",
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"label": "Decompression melting of rising mantle → runny basaltic volcanism",
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"label": "Shallow earthquakes only, above ~20 km, rarely beyond magnitude 6",
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{
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"label": "Convergent — oceanic plate subducts beneath continental",
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"label": "Ocean trench — the Peru–Chile Trench reaches 8 km deep",
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"label": "Wadati–Benioff zone: earthquakes trace the slab down to 700 km",
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"type": "volcano",
"label": "Continental volcanic arc — the Andes; sticky andesite, explosive eruptions",
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{
"id": "pb-s4",
"type": "arrow-right",
"label": "Dense old oceanic lithosphere sinks; slab pull is the strongest plate-driving force",
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"label": "Convergent — continent meets continent",
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"label": "Neither plate subducts — continental crust is too buoyant to sink",
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"type": "mountain",
"label": "Crust thickens and folds — the Himalaya, 8.8 km and still rising ~5 mm yr⁻¹",
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{
"id": "pb-c4",
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"label": "India has closed on Eurasia at ~5 cm yr⁻¹ since about 50 Ma",
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{
"id": "pb-tra",
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"label": "Transform — plates slide past one another",
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"label": "The San Andreas Fault; on the sea floor, transform faults offsetting ridge segments",
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"label": "Lithosphere is neither created nor destroyed — only displaced",
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"label": "Shallow but large earthquakes — San Francisco 1906, magnitude 7.9",
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"label": "Driving forces, in order of importance: slab pull at subduction zones, ridge push from the elevated ridge crest, and basal drag from mantle convection.",
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"id": "pb-evidence",
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"label": "Evidence: matching coastlines and fossil belts, symmetric magnetic stripes either side of the ridges, the depth pattern of earthquakes, and GPS geodesy measuring the motion directly.",
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"label": "melt supply"
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"label": "seismicity"
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"label": "dehydration melting feeds the arc"
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