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Diagram of a mid-ocean ridge showing ridge push near the mid-ocean ridge and the lack of ridge push after 90 Ma. Ridge push is the result of gravitational forces acting on the young, raised oceanic lithosphere around mid-ocean ridges, causing it to slide down the similarly raised but weaker asthenosphere and push on lithospheric material farther from the ridges.
The movement of magma in the asthenosphere can create divergent plate boundaries as the magma begins to rise and protrude weaker lithospheric crust. Subsidence at a divergent plate boundary is a form of vertical displacement which occurs when a plate begins to split apart. [ 2 ]
Tectonic plates are composed of the oceanic lithosphere and the thicker continental lithosphere, each topped by its own kind of crust. Along convergent plate boundaries, the process of subduction carries the edge of one plate down under the other plate and into the mantle. This process reduces the total surface area (crust) of the Earth.
The relative movement of the plates typically ranges from zero to 10 cm annually. Faults tend to be geologically active, experiencing earthquakes, volcanic activity, mountain-building, and oceanic trench formation. Tectonic plates are composed of the oceanic lithosphere and the thicker continental lithosphere, each topped by its own kind of crust.
The most dramatic orogenic belt on the planet is the one between the African plate and the Indo-Australian plate on one side (to the south) and the Eurasian plate on the other side (to the north). This belt runs from New Zealand in the east-south-east, through Indonesia , along the Himalayas , through the Middle East up to the Mediterranean in ...
As the plates on either side of an offset mid-ocean ridge move, a transform fault forms at the offset between the two ridges. [2] Fracture zones and the transform faults that form them are separate but related features. Transform faults are plate boundaries, meaning that on either side of the fault is a different plate.
Simplified diagram of a convergent boundary. A convergent boundary (also known as a destructive boundary) is an area on Earth where two or more lithospheric plates collide. . One plate eventually slides beneath the other, a process known as subduct
When tectonic movement occurs sedimentary layers can be tilted. under such circumstances, the sedimentary planes will have a dip (an angle with a horizontal reference plane). When new sedimentary layers are deposited on top of tilted ones, they will have an angle with the older ones, a structure which is called an angular unconformity .