What do we get when the plates spread apart?

What do we get when the plates spread apart?

The Mid-Ocean Ridge and rift valleys, such as the one that runs through eastern Africa, occur along boundaries where plates are spreading apart. New oceanic crust is created as the plates separate and molten rock rises up from the mantle and fills the space.

What is it called when the Earth’s plates spread apart?

The movement of Earth’s tectonic plates shape the planet’s surface. For example, sections of Earth’s crust can come together and collide (a “convergent” plate boundary), spread apart (a “divergent” plate boundary), or slide past one another (a “transform” plate boundary).

When the plates of the earth spread apart?

A divergent margin occurs when two plates are spreading apart, as at seafloor ridges or continental rift zones such as the East Africa Rift. Molten rock rises from the Earth’s center to fill the gap.

What happens when Earth’s plates separate?

The plates diverge and this causes the construction of new rock. It happens when two tectonic plates pull apart and rock from the mantle rises up through the opening to form new surface rock when it cools. It happens at the start of a new ocean and continues at the mid-ocean ridge while the ocean is opening.

What happens when the plates crash together pull apart and slide against each other?

When oceanic or continental plates slide past each other in opposite directions, or move in the same direction but at different speeds, a transform fault boundary is formed. No new crust is created or subducted, and no volcanoes form, but earthquakes occur along the fault.

What does colliding plates produce?

The impact of the colliding plates can cause the edges of one or both plates to buckle up into a mountain ranges or one of the plates may bend down into a deep seafloor trench. A chain of volcanoes often forms parallel to convergent plate boundaries and powerful earthquakes are common along these boundaries.

What is the main cause of plate movement?

Earth’s crust, called the lithosphere, consists of 15 to 20 moving tectonic plates. The heat from radioactive processes within the planet’s interior causes the plates to move, sometimes toward and sometimes away from each other. This movement is called plate motion, or tectonic shift.

What happens when two tectonic plates collide with each other?

If two tectonic plates collide, they form a convergent plate boundary. Usually, one of the converging plates will move beneath the other, a process known as subduction. The new magma (molten rock) rises and may erupt violently to form volcanoes, often building arcs of islands along the convergent boundary.

Where do the plates of the Earth split?

The plates that make up the brittle outer 100 kilometers of the Earth spread apart at divergent boundaries. Most of these boundaries are found in the middle of ocean basins. The plates that make up the brittle outer 100 kilometers of the Earth spread apart at divergent boundaries.

What happens to the Earth’s Plates when they move?

When the plates move they collide or spread apart allowing the very hot molten material called lava to escape from the mantle. When collisions occur they produce mountains, deep underwater valleys called trenches, and volcanoes.

How are two plates sliding past each other?

Transform boundary – two plates are sliding past each other as in the San Andreas fault of California. A transform boundary is like a tear in the Earth’s crust. These plates move very slowly across the surface of the Earth as though they were on a conveyor belt.

What causes tectonic plates to bump into each other?

area where two or more tectonic plates bump into each other. Also called a collision zone. area where two or more tectonic plates are moving away from each other. Also called an extensional boundary. the sudden shaking of Earth’s crust caused by the release of energy along fault lines or from volcanic activity.