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 subducted, beneath the lighter and thicker continental crust. This forms what is called
a subduction zone
.
What happens when oceanic crust collides with continental crust?
When they collide, the
Oceanic crust sinks below the continent
. … Some of this crust joins the mantle, but lighter materials will rise up through the continent to emerge on the surface as volcanoes, melting some continental crust with it on the way up.
What is it called when oceanic plates go under continental crust?
Plates Subduct. 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.
Why does oceanic crust move under continental crust?
At convergent plate boundaries between continental and oceanic lithosphere, the dense oceanic lithosphere (including the crust) always subducts beneath the continental. … Largely
due to subduction
, oceanic crust is much, much younger than continental crust.
What is it called when one plate moves under another?
In some cases, however, a convergent plate boundary can result in one tectonic plate diving underneath another. This process, called “
subduction
,” involves an older, denser tectonic plate being forced deep into the planet underneath a younger, less-dense tectonic plate.
What is an example of oceanic continental convergence?
Examples of ocean-continent convergent boundaries are
subduction of the Nazca Plate under South America
(which has created the Andes Mountains and the Peru Trench) and subduction of the Juan de Fuca Plate under North America (creating the Cascade Range).
What are two differences between oceanic crust and continental crust?
The oceanic crust is mainly made out of dark basalt rocks that are rich in minerals and substances like silicon and magnesium. By contrast, the
continental crust is made up of light-colored granite rocks full of substances like oxygen and silicon
. … The continental crust is older than the oceanic crust.
What are the characteristics of oceanic crust and continental crust?
It is the solid rock layer upon which we live. It is either continental or oceanic.
Continental crust is typically 30-50 km thick
, whilst oceanic crust is only 5-10 km thick. Oceanic crust is denser, can be subducted and is constantly being destroyed and replaced at plate boundaries.
What happens when oceanic crust collides with continental crust quizlet?
What happens when oceanic crust collides with continental crust?
Subduction occurs as the denser oceanic plate sinks beneath the less dense continental plate
. What happens when two plates carrying contintental crust collide? Neither plate subducts instead the collision squeezes the crust into mountain ranges.
How is new crust formed?
Subduction happens where tectonic plates crash into each other instead of spreading apart. At subduction zones, the edge of the denser plate subducts, or slides, beneath the less-dense one. The denser lithospheric material then melts back into the Earth’s mantle.
Seafloor spreading
creates new crust.
What are 5 facts about the crust?
- The crust is deepest in mountainous areas. …
- The continental and oceanic crusts are bonded to the mantle, which we spoke about earlier, and this forms a layer called the lithosphere. …
- Beneath the lithosphere, there is a hotter part of the mantle that is always moving.
Why is it important to distinguish the two types of crust?
Explanation: The
thin oceanic crust is composed of primarily of basalt
, and the thicker continental crust is composed primarily of granite. The low density of the thick continental crust allows it to “float” in high relief on the much higher density mantlebelow.
What do you mean by continental crust?
Continental crust,
the outermost layer of Earth’s lithosphere that makes up the planet’s continents and continental shelves
and is formed near subduction zones at plate boundaries between continental and oceanic tectonic plates. The continental crust forms nearly all of Earth’s land surface.
What happens when two crust collide?
At convergent boundaries, where plates push together, crust is either folded or destroyed. When two plates with continental crust collide,
they will crumple and fold the rock between them
. A plate with older, denser oceanic crust will sink beneath another plate. The crust melts in the asthenosphere and is destroyed.
What happens if two oceanic plates collide?
A
subduction zone
is also generated when two oceanic plates collide — the older plate is forced under the younger one — and it leads to the formation of chains of volcanic islands known as island arcs. … Earthquakes generated in a subduction zone can also give rise to tsunamis.
What are the three types of convergent boundaries?
Convergent boundaries , where two plates are moving toward each other, are of three types, depending on the type of crust present on either side of the boundary — oceanic or continental . The types are
ocean-ocean, ocean-continent, and continent-continent.
