The document describes four types of plate boundaries: destructive, constructive, collision, and conservative. Destructive boundaries involve one plate sinking under another, forming trenches and volcanoes. Constructive boundaries involve plates moving apart and new crust forming at mid-ocean ridges. Collision boundaries occur when continental plates collide, pushing the crust upward to form fold mountains. Conservative boundaries involve plates sliding past each other without creation or destruction of crust.

1. Plate Margin Destructive Constructive Collision Conservative
Type of crust Oceanic and Continental Continental Continental
continental
Direction of plate Oceanic crust Two plates move Two continental Two plates move
movement moves towards away from each crusts collide sideways past each
continental crust other. New and as neither other – land is
but being heavier oceanic crust can sink, are neither formed nor
sinks and is appears, forming forced up into destroyed.
destroyed, mid-ocean ridges fold mountains.
forming deep sea with volcanoes.
trenches and
island arcs with
volcanoes.
Example of location Nazca and South Mid-Atlantic Indo-Australian Pacific and North
American plate, Ridge, e.g. and Eurasian American Plate, e.g.
Juan de Fuca and Iceland Plates, e.g. San Andreas,
the North Himalayas California
American plate
EARTHQUAKE Violent * * *
Less *
violent
Rare
VOLCANO Violent * None None
Less *
violent
Rare