Types of Plate Boundaries Flashcards
what is another name for plate boundary?
plate margin
What are the three main types of plate margins?
divergent, convergent, transform
What are the sub-types of the divergent plate margins?
oceanic, continental
What are the sub-types of convergent plate margins?
ocean-continent, continent-continent, ocean-ocean
What are the two types of crust on the Earth?
continental and oceanic
What are the general features of the continetal crust?
- older
- more felsic (Si-rich) rocks -
less dense (avg. 2.7 gm/cm^3 - thicker (avg. 35 km; up to 65km)
What are the general features of the oceanic crust?
- younger
- more mafic (Si-poor) rocks
- more dense
- thinner (avg. 5 km)
Which crust, oceanic or continental, is older?
continental
which crust, oceanic or continental, is thicker?
continental
which crust, oceanic or continental as high mafic rock content?
oceanic
When does the importance of crust-type come into play?
when the two types of crust interact at plate boundaries
A _______ boundary is a boundary between two plates that are moving apart from one another
divergent

Since plates are moving apart at divergent boundaries it results in ______ and ______ earthquakes
shallow, weak
what kind of earthquakes happen at divergent boundaries?
shallop and weak earthquakes
what is a divergent plate boundary?
when two plates are moving apart from one another

What are the two types of divergent margins?
oceanic, and continental
the two types of divergent margins are based on…
the types of crust that are interacting
Where do we commonly see oceanic divergent margins?
at mid-ocean ridges

What is a good example of a continental divergent margin?
African Rift Valley
What is a good example of a divergent margin?
Iceland, located on top of the mid-ocean ridge on the Atlantic Ocean. Iceland is actually composed of oceanic crust. it is just a big island that sprouted up from the bottom of the ocean

When two plates move towards each other it is called a ________ margin
convergent
Whenever two plates are moving towards eachother one of the plates _____ down under the under plate
sinks
The plate that sinks down is the _______ plate
subducting

At the ______ zone we see a deep trench form
subduction









