Tectonic Plates Enviroments

Term Paper Title	Tectonic Plates Enviroments
# of Words	368
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	1.47

Tectonic Plates Enviroments

There are three main plate tectonic environments: extensional,
transform, and compressional. Plate boundaries in different
localities are subject to different inter-plate stresses, producing
these three types of earthquakes. Each type has its own special
hazards.

Rising and Sinking of Material From Mantle

In this view of a flattened-out mantle from the northwest, the blue blobs show where
colder, denser material is sinking into the mantle. Near the surface, most of the colder
material is in the ancient roots of continental cratons. Subducting slabs of oceanic
lithosphere also appear, being recycled into the mantle from oceanic trenches.

In this view from the southwest the red blobs are warmer plumes of less dense material,
rising principally into the ocean-ridge spreading centers. A huge plume seems to be
feeding spreading at the East Pacific Rise directly from the core. Most of the heat being
released from the earth's interior emerges at the fast-spreading East Pacific Rise.
               Three
                    Major
                         Converging
                                   Types


RIDGES

The map above of Earth's solid surface shows many of the features caused by
plate tectonics. The oceanic ridges are the asthenospheric spreading centers,
creating new oceanic crust. Subduction zones a...

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