Plate Tectonics and Landforms

Convergent Boundary Two plates collide Either: Oceanic lithosphere is subducted, Or, two continental plates collide and create mountains

3 types of Convergent Boundaries Ocean to Continent Ocean to Ocean Continent to Continent

Convergent-Collision Boundary Most Fold Mountains are found on the edge or former edge of continental plate boundaries Himalayas Alps

Himalayan Mountain Range The Himalayas stretch through the borders of China, Bhutan, Nepal, India, and Pakistan. The crust beneath the Himalaya, the most towering mountain range on Earth, is still the process of being compressed. Here, the Indian plate is colliding northward with the Eurasian plate. Continental Collision along the Convergent boundary between the Indo-Australian plate and the Eurasian (Tibetan) plate around 55 mil years ago

Alps Mountain Range

Exception Andes Mountains --Longest mountain range in the world. (Fold Mountains) --Created as the thick, less-dense continental crust of the South American plate is uplifted as a result of its collision with the oceanic crust of the Nazca plate (subduction).

Convergent-Subduction Zones

Aleutian Trench & Aleutian Island Arc Aleutian Island Arc (14 volcanic islands)

Mount St. Helens Mount St. Helens is one of many volcanoes in the West Coast’s Cascade Range. Mount St. Helens is the result of a “subduction zone.” At Mount St. Helens, the smaller oceanic Juan de Fuca plate is sliding under the continental North American plate. http://mshinstitute.org/index.php/news_and_research/history_of_msh

Mariana Islands, Mariana Trench

Hawaiian Islands Exception