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Plate boundaries are important because they are often associated with earthquakes and volcanoes. When Earth’s tectonic plates grind past one another, enormous amounts of energy can be released in the form of earthquakes.
At convergent plate boundaries where an oceanic plate meets a continental plate, oceanic crust is forced down into the Earth’s mantle and begins to melt. The melted rock rises into and through the overlying plate as magma, often forming a chain of volcanoes parallel to the plate boundary.
The point where two or more plates meet is known as a plate boundary. It is at these locations where earthquakes, volcanoes and fold mountain form. There are four main types of plate boundary.
Plate boundaries are where geological events occur, such as earthquakes and the creation of topographic features such as mountains, volcanoes, mid-ocean ridges, and oceanic trenches. The vast majority of the world's active volcanoes occur along plate boundaries, with the Pacific plate's Ring of Fire being the
Learn about and revise plate boundaries with GCSE Bitesize Geography (Eduqas).
While the interiors of the plates are presumed to remain essentially undeformed, plate boundaries are the sites of many of the principal processes that shape the terrestrial surface, including earthquakes, volcanism, and orogeny (that is, formation of mountain ranges).
A map of the tectonic plates of the earth showing the different boundary types in different colors. Locations where plates collide (convergent boundaries) are shown in red. Locations where plates are spreading (divergent boundaries) are shown in yellow. And, locations where plates are sliding past one another are shown in orange.
National Park Service lands contain not only active examples of all types of plate boundaries and hotspots, but also rock layers and landscapes that reveal plate-tectonic activity that occurred in the distant past.
Most movement occurs along narrow zones between plates where the results of plate-tectonic forces are most evident. There are four types of plate boundaries: Divergent boundaries -- where new crust is generated as the plates pull away from each other. Convergent boundaries -- where crust is destroyed as one plate dives under another.
The edges where tectonic plates meet are known as plate boundaries. There are three main types: Convergent Boundaries (Destructive Boundaries or Active Margins): Here, plates move towards each other. Where they meet, they form either a continental collision or else a subduction zone where one plate moves under the other.