1. Plate Tectonics
the movement of Earth

2. Tectonic Plates Earth’s lithosphere is broken into about 19 pieces
These plates move on top of the asthenosphere

3. Plate Boundaries
Places where the plates meet

4. Types of Plate Boundaries
Transform Fault Boundaries –(Sliding)
Divergent
Moving apart / Rifting
Convergent
Colliding / Sub-duction

5. Transform Fault Boundaries
Faults form when plates slide past each other
A fault is a large crack in rocks that can break
EARTHQUAKES can happen along fault lines

7. San Andreas Fault, CA

8. Divergent Boundaries
Boundary between two plates that are moving apart or rifting
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RIFTING causes SEAFLOOR SPREADING

9. Divergent Plate Movement: Seafloor Spreading
the movement of two oceanic plates away from each other (at a divergent plate boundary), which results in the formation of new oceanic crust (from magma that comes from within the Earth's mantle) along a mid-ocean ridge.
Ocean floor spreading was first suggested by Harry Hess and Robert Dietz in the 1960's.

11. Features of Divergent Boundaries
Mid-ocean ridges

12. Features of Divergent Boundaries
Rift valleys
Quilotoa, Ecuador

13. Features of Divergent Boundaries
Fissure volcanoes
Hawaii, USA

17. Convergent Boundaries
Boundaries between two plates that are colliding
 
Different things can happen, depending on the density of the plates involved.
There are 3 types…

18. Oceanic-Continental
Ocean plate colliding with a less dense continental plate
Subduction Zone: where the less dense plate slides under the more dense plate
VOLCANOES occur at subduction zones

20. Andes Mountains, South America

21. Oceanic-Oceanic Ocean plate colliding with another ocean plate
The less dense plate slides under the more dense plate creating a subduction zone called a TRENCH

22. Two Oceanic Plates - When two oceanic plates collide, one may be pushed under the other and magma from the mantle rises, forming volcanoes in the vicinity

23. Aleutian Islands, Alaska

26. Continental-Continental
A continental plate colliding with another continental plate
Have Collision Zones:
a place where folded and thrust faulted mountains form.

27. Two Continental Plates - When two continental plates collide, mountain ranges are created as the colliding crust is compressed and pushed upwards.

30. Fold: When rocks bend
Anticline (Upward)
Syncline (Downward)

31. Causes of Plate Tectonics

32. Convection Currents
Hot magma in the Earth moves toward the surface, cools, then sinks again.
This circulation of heat creates convection currents.
Convection currents beneath the plates cause the plates to move.