why do oceanic plates go under continental plates

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Why Do Oceanic Plates Go Under Continental Plates?

As the plates collide, the oceanic plate is forced beneath the continental plate. … This happens because the oceanic plate is denser (heavier) than the continental plate. When the plate sinks into the mantle it melts to form magma. The pressure of the magma builds up beneath the Earth’s surface.

Why do oceanic plates move under continental plates?

When an oceanic plate converges with a continental plate, the oceanic crust will always subduct under the continental crust; this is because oceanic crust is naturally denser. … This melting leads to heat being transferred upwards and uplifting the crust, eventually developing into a volcano.

Why do oceanic plates go under continental plates quizlet?

The type of crust that is under the oceans. … The denser oceanic plate subducts beneath the less dense continental plate. The oceanic crust sinks into a trench where there is increased heat and pressure which melts the rock into magma.

When an oceanic plate goes under a continental plate?

When oceanic crust converges with continental crust, the denser oceanic plate plunges beneath the continental plate. This process, called subduction, occurs at the oceanic trenches (figure 6). The entire region is known as a subduction zone. Subduction zones have a lot of intense earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

What causes the motion of oceanic oceanic?

The most obvious examples are the waves and ripples on the water’s surface that are generated by wind or the ocean currents that are due to tides. … There currents are set in motion by variations in water density caused by differences in temperature and salinity, a process called convection.

What causes the movement of the continents?

The movement of these tectonic plates is likely caused by convection currents in the molten rock in Earth’s mantle below the crust. Earthquakes and volcanoes are the short-term results of this tectonic movement. The long-term result of plate tectonics is the movement of entire continents over millions of years (Fig.

Why does oceanic crust slide below the continental crust in a convergent boundary to create ocean trenches quizlet?

The ocean crusts goes below the continental crust because its more dense. Volcanoes form on the continent. A trench forms at the place when the plates collide. … At subduction zones, two tectonic plates meet and one slides beneath the other back into the mantle, the layer underneath the crust.

What happens when oceanic and continental plates collide quizlet?

When two oceanic plates collide, the denser plate is subducted and some material rises upward and forms an ISLAND. What happens when two continental plates collide? The continental crust is pushed together and upward to form large MOUNTAIN ranges. … Ocean floor is pushed away from a midocean ridge to form new sea floor.

How do continental plates and oceanic plates differ?

Continental plates are much thicker that Oceanic plates. At the convergent boundaries the continental plates are pushed upward and gain thickness. The rocks and geological layers are much older on continental plates than in the oceanic plates. The Continental plates are much less dense than the Oceanic plates.

What happens when oceanic and continental plates converge?

When an oceanic and a continental plate collide, eventually the oceanic plate is subducted under the continental plate due to the high density of the oceanic plate. … When the oceanic plate is subducted due to partial melting of the asthenosphere magma with an andesitic composition is formed.

Why does the oceanic crust sink beneath the continental crust at the subduction zone?

Oceanic crust is denser than continental crust that is why the former sinks through the process of subduction.

What happens to oceanic and continental plates when they diverge?

Divergent Boundaries — Spreading Plates

As plates made of oceanic crust pull apart, a crack in the ocean floor appears. … The magma also spreads outward, forming new ocean floor and new oceanic crust. Rifts. When two continental plates diverge, a valleylike rift develops.

What is the motion of oceanic vs continental?

When oceanic crust converges with continental crust, the denser oceanic plate plunges beneath the continental plate. This process, called subduction, occurs at the oceanic trenches. The entire region is known as a subduction zone. Subduction zones have a lot of intense earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

What causes tectonic plates to move?

Tectonic shift is the movement of the plates that make up Earth’s crust. … The heat from radioactive processes within the planet’s interior causes the plates to move, sometimes toward and sometimes away from each other. This movement is called plate motion, or tectonic shift.

When two oceanic plates converge some magma erupts under the ocean?

Seafloor spreading increases the size of the ocean basin as rifting continues. When two oceanic plates converge, some magma erupts under the ocean, forming volcanoes that may rise above the sea.

What happens when oceanic crust Subducts under continental crust?

When oceanic crust converges with continental crust, the denser oceanic plate plunges beneath the continental plate. This process, called subduction, occurs at the oceanic trenches. … The subducting plate causes melting in the mantle above the plate. The magma rises and erupts, creating volcanoes.

What causes the tectonic plates to move and cause continental drift?

The crust is broken up into giant tectonic plates that ride atop the magma, hot melted-rock material that makes up much of the interior of the Earth. Over millions of years, the continents drift into new configurations. Convection in the molten rock of Earth’s mantle drives the movement of the plates.

What is the force that moves continents and tectonic plates?

The energy source for plate tectonics is Earth’s internal heat while the forces moving the plates are the “ridge push” and “slab pull” gravity forces. It was once thought that mantle convection could drive plate motions.

When oceanic crust is pulled under continental crust at a convergent plate boundary what is created?

Magma rises into and through the other plate, solidifying into granite, the rock that makes up the continents. Thus, at convergent boundaries, continental crust is created and oceanic crust is destroyed. Two plates sliding past each other forms a transform plate boundary.

What happens to oceanic plates at convergent boundaries quizlet?

What happens at convergent boundaries, where an oceanic plate and a continental plate collide? Oceanic crust tends to be denser and thinner than continental crust, so the denser oceanic crust gets bent and pulled under, or subducted, beneath the lighter and thicker continental crust.

What forms when oceanic crust collides with continental crust?

When an ocean plate collides with another ocean plate or with a plate carrying continents, one plate will bend and slide under the other. This process is called subduction. A deep ocean trench forms at this subduction boundary.

What happens when oceanic plates separate?

The plates diverge and this causes the construction of new rock. It happens when two tectonic plates pull apart and rock from the mantle rises up through the opening to form new surface rock when it cools. It happens at the start of a new ocean and continues at the mid-ocean ridge while the ocean is opening.

When an ocean and a continental plate converge Why does the oceanic plate always Subduct quizlet?

If two plates are pushing towards each other. At some convergent boundaries, an oceanic plate collides with a continental plate. Oceanic crust tends to be denser and thinner than continental crust, so the denser oceanic crust gets bent and pulled under, or subduct, beneath the lighter and thicker continental crust.

When an oceanic plate converges with another plate what is created on the seafloor at the line of convergence?

As with oceanic-continental convergence, when two oceanic plates converge, one is usually subducted under the other, and in the process a trench is formed. The Marianas Trench (paralleling the Mariana Islands), for example, marks where the fast-moving Pacific Plate converges against the slower moving Philippine Plate.

Why are oceanic plates younger than continental?

The oceanic plate is subducted back into the mantle, thus destroying oceanic crust, to balance the crust being produced at the mid oceanic ridges. This is why all oceanic crust is much younger than the continental crust; it is constantly being recycled.

Where are the oceanic and continental plates located?

An example of an oceanic plate is the Pacific Plate, which extends from the East Pacific Rise to the deep-sea trenches bordering the western part of the Pacific basin. A continental plate is exemplified by the North American Plate, which includes North America as well as the oceanic crust…

What does and oceanic oceanic convergence give rise to?

A volcanic island arc forms in an ocean-ocean plate convergence; a volcanic continental arc forms in an ocean-continent convergence.

Can a tectonic plate be both oceanic and continental?

Continental and oceanic crust can both be part of the same plate. For example, the North American plate has continental crust (essentially the land area of North America) at its core; this is surrounded on most sides by oceanic crust. A geographic “continent” does not equal a plate.

What is formed on the oceanic side when oceanic and continental collide?

A. Trench is formed on the oceanic side when oceanic and continental crust collide. Explanation: … At the subduction boundary, a deep ocean trench forms.

Why does oceanic lithosphere almost always sink beneath continental lithosphere at convergent plate boundaries?

In the theory of tectonic plates, at a convergent boundary between a continental plate and an oceanic plate, the denser plate usually subducts underneath the less dense plate. It is well known that oceanic plates subduct under continental plates, and therefore oceanic plates are more dense than continental plates.

What happens during sea floor spreading?

Seafloor spreading occurs at divergent plate boundaries. As tectonic plates slowly move away from each other, heat from the mantle’s convection currents makes the crust more plastic and less dense. The less-dense material rises, often forming a mountain or elevated area of the seafloor. Eventually, the crust cracks.

What are the different geologic features formed when continental plate and oceanic plate collides?

Deep ocean trenches, volcanoes, island arcs, submarine mountain ranges, and fault lines are examples of features that can form along plate tectonic boundaries. … Usually, one of the converging plates will move beneath the other, a process known as subduction.

What geologic feature event that could take place when oceanic plates diverge?

Effects that are found at a divergent boundary between oceanic plates include: a submarine mountain range such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge; volcanic activity in the form of fissure eruptions; shallow earthquake activity; creation of new seafloor and a widening ocean basin.

What geologic feature is formed between the divergent oceanic plates?

ridge
Divergent zones in oceanic plates form a geological feature called a ridge, forced upward by the pressure of the rising magma. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is an example of an oceanic divergent boundary formation.

PLATE TECTONICS

Convergent boundaries

BBC Geography – Plate Tectonics

Tectonic Plates – The Skin of Our Planet | Down to Earth

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