Plate Boundaries

Thingvellir, Iceland, located along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
Photo courtesy of cogdogblog/Flickr. Licensed CC BY.


Areas where two plates meet up with each other is called a plate boundary.

There are three kinds of plate boundaries:
  • Convergent: two plates collide with one another. Example: Eurasian and Indian plate.
  • Divergent: two plates moving away from each other. Mid-Atlantic ridge.
  • Transform: two plates sliding past each other. North Pacific and North American plates in California.

The type of plate boundary affects nearby topography. For example, the convergent plate boundary between the Eurasian and Indian plates created the Himalayan mountain range, as these two continental plates collided.
Last modified: Wednesday, 14 December 2011, 9:39 AM