This image shows the three main types of plate boundaries: divergent, convergent, and transform. Image courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey. Download image (jpg, 76 KB) .

There are three major types of plate boundaries, each associated with the formation of a variety of geologic features. If two tectonic plates collide, they form a convergent plate boundary. Usually, one of the converging plates will move beneath the other, a process known as subduction.

There are three kinds of plate tectonic boundaries: divergent, convergent, and transform plate boundaries.

Where tectonic plates collide they form trenches, which are the deepest places in the world’s ocean. At a trench, one tectonic plate (the “downgoing plate”) plunges beneath another (the “overriding plate”) at what is called a “subduction zone.”

Figure 1: Map of the North American – Caribbean tectonic plate boundary. Colors denote depth below sea level and elevation on land. Bold numbers are the years of moderately large (larger than about magnitude 7) historical earthquakes written next to their approximate locations.

Mid-ocean ridges occur along divergent plate boundaries, where new ocean floor is created as the Earth’s tectonic plates spread apart. As the plates separate, molten rock rises to the seafloor, producing enormous volcanic eruptions of basalt.

It seems that the majority of earthquakes are caused by tectonic plates breaking in two, or banging and sliding against one another. Which parts of the United States have the most frequent earthquakes?

What are the different types of plate tectonic boundaries? How does the ocean affect climate and weather on land? What features form at plate tectonic boundaries?

The Ring of Fire is the result of plate tectonics. Much of the volcanic activity occurs along subduction zones, which are convergent plate boundaries where two tectonic plates come together. The heavier plate is shoved (or subducted) under the other plate.

Trenches in the Pacific are located in places where one tectonic plate subducts or slides under another one. The Puerto Rico Trench, in contrast, is located at a boundary between two plates that slide past each other with only a small component of subduction.