Download The Faults - Raleigh Charter High School

Gautam Sanka



The earth is broken into seven large and
moving plates.
The plates are about an average 50 miles thick
They typically move about a couple of inches
each year.

Convergent Boundaries- are when two plates
move toward each other and collide

When an Oceanic plate collides with a continental
plate, the oceanic plate goes beneath the
continental plate. This is called Subduction.
 Ex. Nazca and South American Plate
 Subduction also forms trenches
Convergent
Boundary
Trench

When two continental plates collide, they form
mountain ranges.
 Ex. When the Indian plate converged with the Eurasian
plate, it formed the Himalayas.

Divergent Boundaries are where plates move
away from each other.


Ex. Mid-Ocean Ridge
Where plates diverge, hot, molten rock rises and
cools adding new material to the edges of the
oceanic plates. This is known as Sea-floor
Spreading.

Transform Fault-Boundaries are where plates
move past each other.

Ex. San Andreas Fault