Download The Plates of the Earth

Plate Tectonics and Landforms
Convergent Boundary
• Two plates collide
• Either:
– Oceanic lithosphere is
subducted,
– Or, two continental plates
collide and create
mountains
3 types of Convergent Boundaries
Ocean to Continent
Ocean to Ocean
Continent to Continent
Convergent-Collision Boundary
Most Fold
Mountains are found
on the edge or
former edge of
continental plate
boundaries
Himalayas
Alps
Himalayan Mountain Range
The Himalayas stretch
through the borders of
China, Bhutan, Nepal,
India, and Pakistan. The
crust beneath the
Himalaya, the most
towering mountain
range on Earth, is still
the process of being
compressed. Here, the
Indian plate is colliding
northward with the
Eurasian plate.
Continental Collision
along the Convergent
boundary between the
Indo-Australian plate
and the Eurasian
(Tibetan) plate around
55 mil years ago
Alps Mountain Range
Andes Mountains
--Longest mountain range in the
world. (Fold Mountains)
--Created as the thick, less-dense
continental crust of the South
American plate is uplifted as a result
of its collision with the oceanic crust
of the Nazca plate (subduction).
Convergent-Subduction Zones
Aleutian Trench & Aleutian Island Arc
Aleutian Island
Arc (14 volcanic
islands)
Mount St. Helens
Mount St. Helens is
one of many volcanoes
in the West Coast’s
Cascade Range.
Mount St. Helens is
the result of a
“subduction zone.” At
Mount St. Helens, the
smaller oceanic Juan
de Fuca plate is sliding
under the continental
North American plate.
Mariana Islands, Mariana Trench
Hawaiian Islands