subduction zones
Crustal collision boundaries
Subduction zones are regions where one tectonic plate slides beneath another, descending into the Earth's mantle.
These boundaries produce the planet's most powerful earthquakes and most explosive volcanoes—the Pacific Ring of Fire traces subduction zones around that ocean's edge.
The descending plate generates intense pressure and heat, recycling oceanic crust back into the mantle over millions of years.
- fault linesFractures between rock masses
- earthquake zonesAreas prone to tremors
- lithosphereCrust plus upper mantle
- plate boundariesEdges of crustal sections
- megathrustMassive subduction zone fault
tectonic · geology · volcanic activity · Pacific Ring of Fire · plates · oceanic trenches · earthquake · convergent · trench · crust · seafloor · deep · ocean floor · sinking · Ring of Fire · uplift · Pacific · tsunami
- earthquakesearthquake, quake, earthquakes, quakes, epicenter
- geologybedrock, fault lines, faults, rock, basalt
- plate tectonicstectonic plates, plate tectonics, plate boundaries, continental drift, Pangaea
- seismologyearthquake, earthquakes, seismograph, seismicity, seismometer
- Earthquake ZonesRing of Fire, Pacific Ring of Fire, San Andreas Fault, fault lines, plate boundaries
- ocean geologyseafloor, seabed, ocean basins, ocean floor, ocean basin