plate boundary
Crustal division line
A plate boundary is the zone where two of Earth's tectonic plates meet.
These boundaries are sites of intense geological activity—earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain formation occur where plates collide, pull apart, or slide past each other.
The San Andreas Fault marks a plate boundary between the Pacific and North American plates.
- tectonic platesMobile crustal sections
- faultImperfection or blame
- crustHard outer layer
- riftCrack or estrangement
- trenchLong narrow excavation
lithosphere · accretionary wedge · subduction zone · tectonics · orogeny · continental drift · hydrothermal vents · seismic activity · volcanic arc · earthquake · tremor · shifting · uplift · Pacific · oceanic · slip · San Andreas Fault · collision
- earthquakesearthquake, quake, earthquakes, quakes, epicenter
- Geology Diagramsrock cycle, cross section, geologic map, rock strata, tectonic plates
- tectonicstectonic plates, subduction, plates, continental drift, subduction zones
- Geologic Boundariesfault, contact, unconformity, disconformity, nonconformity
- ContinentsAfrica, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe
- Pacific CoastPacific Ocean, beach, Pacific coast, sand, Pacific beaches