This document discusses plate tectonics and the three types of plate boundaries: divergent boundaries, convergent boundaries, and transform boundaries. It describes how each boundary type results in different stresses on rocks and the formation of different geological features. Divergent boundaries result in tension stresses that cause normal faults and the formation of rift valleys or sea floor spreading. Convergent boundaries result in compression stresses that cause reverse faults and the uplifting of folded mountains or subduction zones and volcanoes. Transform boundaries result in shearing stresses that cause strike-slip faults like the San Andreas Fault in California.

1. Boundaries,
Stresses,
and Faults
OH MY!
How do geologic events change and
shape Earth’s surface?

2. Remember…
The Lithosphere is made of…
The CRUST + The Upper Rigid Mantle
Plates may be called by different names:
Crustal Plates
Lithospheric Plates
Tectonic Plates

3. Plates around Earth move
in different directions & cause different geologic
events (things that happen on Earth).

4. Let’s recall what makes the plates move…
Convection Currents in the mantle move the plates as the core
heats the slowly-flowing asthenosphere (the elastic/plastic-like
part of the mantle).

5. There are 3 types of Plate
Boundaries.
Each one has a type of STRESS on the
rock
& a way that it breaks, called a
FAULT:
• Divergent Boundaries
• Convergent Boundaries
• Transform Boundaries
Let’s
break it
down…

6. Divergent Boundaries
• Place where 2 plates pull away from each other

7. How is the rock pulled at Divergent
Boundaries?
Rock gets THIN in the middle as it is pulled
apart.
This STRESS is called

8. What happens when the rock
SNAPS from the Stress of Tension?
A Normal Fault (fault is a break in Earth’s
crust)
Rock drops down as it breaks

9. What happens next @ Divergent Boundaries?
• A geologic feature or
event…
May form RIFT
VALLEYS on
continents
SEA-FLOOR
SPREADING in the
ocean

10. Helpful Hints…
• Divergent is like “dissecting” or “dividing”
• If you pull warm bubble gum or silly putty, it
will thin in the middle until it is stressed so
much that it breaks.
• Happens on land
& under H2O

11. Convergent Boundaries
• Places
where
plates crash
(or crunch)
together or
subduct
(one sinks
under)

12. How is the rock pushed at convergent
boundaries?
• Rock is pressed or squeezed together.
• This stress is called COMPRESSION

13. What happens when the rock is squeezed
from the Stress of Compression?
• A REVERSE FAULT
• Rock is forced upward as it is squeezed.

14. What happens next @ Convergent Boundaries?
• May form Mountain Ranges.
These are Folded Mtns. Like the Himalayas or the
Rockies.

15. • May form
Volcanoes @
Subduction
Zones
as denser
oceanic plate
dives under
less dense
continental
plate.
What else happens @ Convergent Boundaries?

16. Helpful Hints…
• Convergent = “Connecting” boundaries
• May work like a trash compactor smashing
rock.
– Rock goes crunches up to make folded mountains.
– Rock goes down “under” @ subduction zone.

17. Transform Boundaries
• Place where 2 plates slide past each other

18. How is the rock broken at Transform
Boundaries?
• Rock is pushed in
two opposite
directions (or
sideways, but no
rock is lost)
• This stress is
called SHEARING

19. What happens when the rock is sheared
(or “cut”) from the Stress of Shearing?
• A STRIKE-SLIP FAULT
• Rocks on each side of the fault slip past
each other as they break.

20. What happens next at Transform Boundaries?
• May cause
Earthquakes
when the rock
snaps from the
pressure.
• A famous fault @
a Transform
Boundary is the
San Andreas Fault
in California.

21. Helpful Hints…
• Shearing means cutting (“Shears” are like
scissors)
• Transform boundaries run like trains going
past each other in different directions & they
shake the ground! San Andreas
Fault, CA 

22. Can you match the
boundary name
correctly with its
diagram?
A._____________
B._____________
C._____________
Plate Boundaries:

23. Plate Boundaries:
• Correct Answers:
A.Divergent
B.Convergent
C.Transform

24. Standard:
S6E5. Students will investigate the scientific view of
how the earth’s surface is formed.
d. Describe processes that change rocks and the
surface of the earth.
Review: (Make sure you use voc. from your notes)
1. How does the process of subduction recycle
rock?
2. How can magma rise up on the ocean floor?
3. What happens to rock to form folded mountain
ranges?

25. Standard:
S6E5. Students will investigate the scientific view
of how the earth’s surface is formed
e. Recognize that lithospheric plates constantly
move and cause major geological events on the
earth’s surface.
Review:
1. List the geologic event(s) that can occur at each
plate boundary. (What happens or is formed here?)
•____ & ____ @ Divergent Boundaries
•____ & ____ @ Convergent Boundaries
•__________ @ Transform Boundaries

26. Standard:
S6E5. Students will investigate the scientific view
of how the earth’s surface is formed
f. Explain the effects of physical processes (plate
tectonics, erosion, deposition, volcanic eruption, gravity) on geological features
including oceans (composition, currents, and tides).
Review: (Make sure to use voc. from your notes)
1.Explain how Earthquakes occur.
2.How can new ocean floor be created?
3.How do mountain ranges form?
4.Why is density important at subduction zones?