Questions based on plate boundaries.

What are the differences between:-

a) Plates made of oceanic and continental crust?
- Oceanic plates are thin, while continental plates are thick.

b) Destructive and constructive margins?
- Destructive margins are when the dense oceanic crust is subducted under the less dense continental crust, while constructive plate margins are when two tectonic plates are moving away from each other. So, divergent and constructive margins move in the opposite direction.

c) How is a conservative margin different from those two?
- It is different because conservative margins aren't moving away or towards each other, instead its sliding past each other which causes earthquakes.

Plate Boundaries

Plate Boundaries

• is where plates meet and these plate boundaries are of 3 types convergent, divergent, conservative
• They have tectonic activities and are unstable.
• Found on the edge of the lithospheric plates

What do I notice? :-

• The northern american plate is the biggest
• The juan de fuca pleate is the smallest
• They don’t move in the same direction
• Lots of subducting plates - ocean and continental plates collide
• Different plates are in different continents and are named after them
• Some plates consist of trenches
• Some plates have ridges

Plate boundary map:-

Key - red lines are where the plates meet.

Key words:-

lithosphere - The solid outer part of the earth.

convergent - come together(destructive)

divergent - opposite of convergent(constructive)

conservative - transform

Locating Boundaries...


Name a place on earth where 2 plates are converging...
- Mount Everest, the tallest peak in the world.


Name a place where 2 plates are diverging...
- The Mid-Atlantic ridge and on land Lake Baikal in Siberia.


Name a place where 2 plates are sliding against each other...
- The San Andreas fault in North America.


Websites - http://www.universetoday.com/39760/plate-boundaries/
              http://www.coolgeography.co.uk/GCSE/AQA/Restless%20Earth/Tectonics/Plate%20margins.htm