Types of Plate Boundaries Reference

Mantle plume melts continental crust

Rigid plates lock and grind

Dense slabs sink into trenches

Basaltic lava solidifies at ridges

Rift valleys

Volcanic island arcs

Strike-slip faults

Mid-ocean ridges

Convergent subduction

Divergent ridge

Hotspot track

Transform boundary

Hotspot track on moving plate

Active subduction megathrust

Rifting at spreading center

Compression in continental collision

Transform — San Andreas Fault

Divergent — Himalayas

Convergent — Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Hotspot — East Pacific Rise

Broad rift valleys

Linear volcanic arcs

Deep ocean trenches

Tall mountain ranges

Deep ocean trenches with subducting slabs

Long chains of volcanic islands over rising plumes

Wide rift valleys with new crust forming

Frequent earthquakes without major volcanoes

A moving plate passes over a stationary hotspot

Transform motion grinds past without uplift

Oceanic crust splits at a mid-ocean ridge

Two continental plates collide and thicken

Hotspot plume pierces stationary plate

Sea-floor spreads, basalt cools at ridges

Continental plates slide past, friction builds

Water-rich oceanic crust sinks, melts, magma rises

Convergent and divergent both produce earthquakes

Convergent and transform both build mid-ocean ridges

Convergent and transform both lack trenches

Transform and divergent both create island arcs