Table of Contents
What happens when two continental plates crash into each other?
When two continental plates crash into each other, they crumple and fold. The crust is forced up, and mountains form, and earthquakes happen.
What happens when two continental plates come together?
When two continental plates collide they resist downwards motion or subduction because the continental rocks that make them up are of similar density. Instead, the crust tends to buckle and gets pushed upwards and sideways. Thus, when two continental plates collide mountains are formed.
Which features form when two oceanic plates converge?
Trenches. Trenches are geological features formed by convergent boundaries. When two tectonic plates converge, the heavier plate is forced downward, creating a subduction zone. This process results in the formation of a trench. The Marianas Trench is an example of a trench formed by the convergence of two oceanic plates.
What forms when two oceanic plates meet?
Subduction zones also form when two oceanic plates collide. The continental crust is lighter because of the quartz and feldspar minerals in granite. Iron and magnesium are much heavier minerals found in ocean floor basalt. When the two plates meet the oceanic crustal plate always subducts beneath the continental plate.
What is formed when one oceanic plate moves under another?
An island arc results when one oceanic plate moves under another oceanic plate. A continental arc results when an oceanic plate moves under a continental plate. Volcanoes and volcanic activity often occur as a result of the subduction process because the subducting slab releases liquids as it moves into the extreme temperatures of the mantle layer.
What happens when two oceanic plates converge/meet?
When two oceanic plates collide, their densities help to determine the one that will appear on top of the other. And as you already know, the oceanic crust does become denser and colder when it spreads out of the mid-ocean ridge. So, when two oceanic plates conveying oceanic crust collides at a trench, the denser one will come under the less dense plate . That is what happens when oceanic plates meet.
What happends when two plates of the same density collide?
Formation convergent boundaries. A tectonic plate boundary always forms when two continental plates collide. Neither plate subducts because the crust have approximately the same density. Instead, the rocks are smashed together causing them to recrystallize due to the intense heat and pressure from the colliding plates.