What is it called when plates are pulled apart?

What is it called when plates are pulled apart?

Most geologic activity stems from the interplay where the plates meet or divide. The movement of the plates creates three types of tectonic boundaries: convergent, where plates move into one another; divergent, where plates move apart; and transform, where plates move sideways in relation to each other.

What happens when a plate Subducts?

Where two tectonic plates meet at a subduction zone, one bends and slides underneath the other, curving down into the mantle. (The mantle is the hotter layer under the crust.) At a subduction zone, the oceanic crust usually sinks into the mantle beneath lighter continental crust.

What is the process called when one plate is pulled under another plate at a convergent boundary causing a trench?

A convergent boundary (also known as a destructive boundary) is an area on Earth where two or more lithospheric plates collide. One plate eventually slides beneath the other, a process known as subduction.

What type of plate boundary was formed when you pulled the pieces apart?

Divergent Boundaries
Divergent Boundaries — Spreading Plates As plates made of oceanic crust pull apart, a crack in the ocean floor appears.

What is the process when plates move apart from each other?

Divergent boundaries. Divergent boundaries occur along spreading centers where plates are moving apart and new crust is created by magma pushing up from the mantle.

What happens when a plate Subducts into the mantle of the Earth?

The mantle underneath the lithosphere is hot, fluid rock. When one plate sinks into it during subduction, it melts into the mantle. Essentially, the rock making up that plate is getting recycled. New plates form at tectonic boundaries that are diverging.

When a plate is denser it Subducts?

Subduction zones occur when one or both of the tectonic plates are composed of oceanic crust. The denser plate is subducted underneath the less dense plate. The plate being forced under is eventually melted and destroyed. Island arcs and oceanic trenches occur when both of the plates are made of oceanic crust.

What process occurs when two continental plates collide?

When two plates carrying continents collide, the continental crust buckles and rocks pile up, creating towering mountain ranges. When an ocean plate collides with another ocean plate or with a plate carrying continents, one plate will bend and slide under the other. This process is called subduction.

What are the different processes that occur along the plate boundaries?

Earthquakes, volcanic activity, mountain-building, and oceanic trench formation occur along plate boundaries in zones that may be anything from a few kilometres to a few hundred kilometres wide.

How is subduction a process of plate tectonics?

Subduction is a geological process in which the edge of a lithospheric plate slides underneath the edge of an adjacent plate. Subduction is one of the two major processes of plate tectonics, the other being seafloor spreading.

Where does subduction not result in the formation of mountains?

The place where subduction has occurred, however, does not result in the formation of mountains. This place is known as a subduction zone. The subduction process is credited with being the single, largest contributor behind the theory of plate tectonics. Why Does Subduction Happen?

What happens to a subduction plate at a steeper angle?

If the subducting plate sinks at a shallow angle, the overriding plate develops a belt of deformation characterized by crustal thickening, mountain building, and metamorphism. Subduction at a steeper angle is characterized by the formation of back-arc basins.

Where do ocean trenches occur in a plate boundary?

In particular, ocean trenches are a feature of convergent plate boundaries, where two or more tectonic plates meet. At many convergent plate boundaries, dense lithosphere melts or slides beneath less-dense lithosphere in a process called subduction, creating a trench.