What is the difference between convergent collision and subduction zones

Old, dense crust tends to be subducted back into the earth. An example of a subduction zone formed from a convergent boundary is the Chile-Peru trench. The last type of plate boundary is the transform boundary, which is where two plates slide past one another. Unlike the other two types of plate boundaries in which new seafloor is created at divergent boundaries and where old seafloor is subducted at convergent boundaries, transform plate boundaries neither create nor destroy the seafloor.

The rubbing caused by the sliding is what causes earthquakes along the transform faults; one example would be the San Andreas fault. Because of friction, the plates cannot simply glide past each other. Rather, stress builds up in both plates and when it exceeds the threshold of the rocks, the energy is released — causing earthquakes. Privacy Statement Disclaimer and Copyright.

Staff Search. Earthquakes Earthquakes at a Plate Boundary. Tectonic Plates and Plate Boundaries. Plate Collision in NZ. Stuck Plate Boundary. Slow Slip Events. The Marianna's trench is an example of this type of converging boundary. It is also an example of a subduction zone.

There are other types of converging boundaries. Where the Indian plate a continental crust meets the Asian plate also a continental crust, the highest mountains in the world result the Himalaya.

Instead of one plate diving under the other creating a subduction zone, both plates buckle upwards. Along the coast of California two plates meet at an angle causing a transverse fault. This created the famous San Andras fault. This is another type of a converging boundary. Convergence can occur between an oceanic and a largely continental plate, or between two largely oceanic plates, or between two largely continental plates.

If by magic we could pull a plug and drain the Pacific Ocean, we would see a most amazing sight -- a number of long narrow, curving trenches thousands of kilometers long and 8 to 10 km deep cutting into the ocean floor. Trenches are the deepest parts of the ocean floor and are created by subduction. Off the coast of South America along the Peru-Chile trench, the oceanic Nazca Plate is pushing into and being subducted under the continental part of the South American Plate. In turn, the overriding South American Plate is being lifted up, creating the towering Andes mountains, the backbone of the continent.

Strong, destructive earthquakes and the rapid uplift of mountain ranges are common in this region. Even though the Nazca Plate as a whole is sinking smoothly and continuously into the trench, the deepest part of the subducting plate breaks into smaller pieces that become locked in place for long periods of time before suddenly moving to generate large earthquakes.

Such earthquakes are often accompanied by uplift of the land by as much as a few meters. On 9 June , a magnitude This earthquake, within the subduction zone between the Nazca Plate and the South American Plate, was one of deepest and largest subduction earthquakes recorded in South America.

Fortunately, even though this powerful earthquake was felt as far away as Minnesota and Toronto, Canada, it caused no major damage because of its great depth. Oceanic-continental convergence also sustains many of the Earth's active volcanoes, such as those in the Andes and the Cascade Range in the Pacific Northwest.

The eruptive activity is clearly associated with subduction, but scientists vigorously debate the possible sources of magma: Is magma generated by the partial melting of the subducted oceanic slab, or the overlying continental lithosphere, or both?

As with oceanic-continental convergence, when two oceanic plates converge, one is usually subducted under the other, and in the process a trench is formed. The Marianas Trench paralleling the Mariana Islands , for example, marks where the fast-moving Pacific Plate converges against the slower moving Philippine Plate. The Challenger Deep, at the southern end of the Marianas Trench, plunges deeper into the Earth's interior nearly 11, m than Mount Everest, the world's tallest mountain, rises above sea level about 8, m.

Subduction processes in oceanic-oceanic plate convergence also result in the formation of volcanoes. Over millions of years, the erupted lava and volcanic debris pile up on the ocean floor until a submarine volcano rises above sea level to form an island volcano. Such volcanoes are typically strung out in chains called island arcs.

As the name implies, volcanic island arcs, which closely parallel the trenches, are generally curved. The trenches are the key to understanding how island arcs such as the Marianas and the Aleutian Islands have formed and why they experience numerous strong earthquakes.

The descending plate also provides a source of stress as the two plates interact, leading to frequent moderate to strong earthquakes. The Himalayan mountain range dramatically demonstrates one of the most visible and spectacular consequences of plate tectonics.

When two continents meet head-on, neither is subducted because the continental rocks are relatively light and, like two colliding icebergs, resist downward motion. Instead, the crust tends to buckle and be pushed upward or sideways.