Plate Boundaries

1. Plate Boundaries

3. Earth’s Moving Plates

5. Types of Plate Motion When plates move away from each other we call these plates divergent When plates move toward each other we call these plates convergent When plates slide past each other we call these plates transform faults

6. At a divergent plate boundary, plates move away from each other. The mid-Atlantic Ridge, an area near the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, is an example of a divergent plate boundary.

7. At a convergent plate boundary, plates move toward each other. The western coast of the South American continent, where the oceanic Nazca Plate is pushed toward and beneath the continental portion of the South American Plate, is an example of a convergent plate boundary.

10. Subduction

15. At a transform plate boundary, plates slide past each other. The San Andreas fault in California is an example of a transform plate boundary, where the Pacific Plate slides past the North American Plate.

17. Hot Spots • Some active volcanoes are not associated with plate boundaries. • The Hawaiian Islands provide perhaps the best example of a hot spot. • The islands formed when the northwest-moving Pacific Plate passing over a “hot spot" provides magma to form new volcanoes.

19. Presented by: Sara and Ethan 7-2 Science