Passive Plate Boundaries Flashcards
What are passive plate boundaries?
A conservative plate boundary is when two plates slide past each other. Land is neither created nor destroyed at these boundaries. They are associated with shallow earthquakes and are usually under the sea. A few passive boundaries occur on land. The best known is the San Andreas Fault in California. The Pacific Plate and the North American Plate are both moving in a northwest direction. The Pacific plate is moving 6 times faster. The slippage is not smooth and the plates may stick for many decades. This leads to the build up of enormous pressure until they suddenly lurch past each other causing an earthquake. Los Angeles will eventually arrive beside San Francisco if the Pacific plate keeps moving northwards, but it will take 16 million years!
