What happens when tectonic plates shift and one plate is shoved under another?

What happens when tectonic plates shift and one plate is shoved under another?

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 is it called when one tectonic plate pushes under another?

In some cases, however, a convergent plate boundary can result in one tectonic plate diving underneath another. This process, called “subduction,” involves an older, denser tectonic plate being forced deep into the planet underneath a younger, less-dense tectonic plate.

Which feature forms when one plate is forced to bend and dive under the other?

subduction
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. A deep ocean trench forms at this subduction boundary.

What geologic features resulted from the collision of the two continental plates?

Deep ocean trenches, volcanoes, island arcs, submarine mountain ranges, and fault lines are examples of features that can form along plate tectonic boundaries. Volcanoes are one kind of feature that forms along convergent plate boundaries, where two tectonic plates collide and one moves beneath the other.

What are two common features found at convergent ocean ocean plate boundaries?

When two tectonic plates pull apart a is formed on the ocean floor?

mid-ocean ridge
As plates made of oceanic crust pull apart, a crack in the ocean floor appears. Magma then oozes up from the mantle to fill in the space between the plates, forming a raised ridge called a mid-ocean ridge. The magma also spreads outward, forming new ocean floor and new oceanic crust.

What causes the ocean floor to spread?

Seafloor spreading occurs at divergent plate boundaries. As tectonic plates slowly move away from each other, heat from the mantle’s convection currents makes the crust more plastic and less dense. The less-dense material rises, often forming a mountain or elevated area of the seafloor. Eventually, the crust cracks.

What does the movement of tectonic plates cause?

Tectonic plates move around and can cause earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. First of all, it is important to know that the Earth’s crust is broken up into large pieces called tectonic plates. Earthquakes and volcanoes are the results of such plate movement.

Why are there so many features on the ocean floor?

Convection currents in the molten mantle cause the plates to slowly move about the Earth a few centimeters each year. Many ocean floor features are a result of the interactions that occur at the edges of these plates. The shifting plates may collide (converge), move away (diverge) or slide past (transform) each other.

What happens to the ocean floor when plates converge?

As plates converge, one plate may move under the other causing earthquakes, forming volcanoes, or creating deep ocean trenches. Where plates diverge from each other, molten magma flows upward between the plates, forming mid-ocean ridges, underwater volcanoes, hydrothermal vents, and new ocean floor crust.

What kind of features form along plate boundaries?

Deep ocean trenches, volcanoes, island arcs, submarine mountain ranges, and fault lines are examples of features that can form along plate tectonic boundaries. Volcanoes are one kind of feature that forms along convergent plate boundaries, where two tectonic plates collide and one moves beneath the other. This photo shows an explosion

How does the spreading center of oceanic ridge / rise system create new crust?

The spreading centers at oceanic ridge/rise systems create new crust at areas of diverging plates. This pushes the plates apart and creates collisions of plates elsewhere. Under Earth’s oceans colliding plates form deep-sea trenches, subducting old crust (and old sea floor sediments and fossils) into the asthenosphere to melt.