Plate Tectonics

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Plate Tectonics
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The Earths Crust is Made of Plates
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What Causes the Plates to Move?

• Convection- hot magma rises, cool magma sinks
  (like a lava lamp)

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Two Types of crust

• Continental Crust- made of granite (light)
• Oceanic Crust- made of basalt (heavy)

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Plate Boundaries

• Cracks in the plates are called faults

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Types of Boundaries (Faults)

• Convergent Boundary
• Divergent Boundary
• Transform Boundary

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Divergent Fault

• Plates move away from each other
• Forms volcanoes and new crust
• Ex) Iceland, mid-Atlantic ridge

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Transform Fault

• Plates slide past each other
• Creates earthquakes
• Ex) San Andreas Fault in California

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Convergent Fault

• Plates move toward each other
• Earthquakes, forms mountain ranges
• Ex) Himalayan Mountains

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Continental-Continental Boundary

• Plates fold, create mountains

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Oceanic-Oceanic Boundary

• Creates trenches (deep valleys)
• Forms volcanoes
• Ex) Aleutian Islands (Alaska)

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Oceanic-Continental Boundary

• Oceanic plate pushes down because it is more
  dense
• Creates mountain ranges
• Ex) Andes mountains