Divergent Plate Movement

Josiah Ruiz | 10 – Patience | Science – 10 | Reynaldo Reyes, Jr.
, LPT
Activity1:Head-On Collision
Part A: Converging Continental Plate and Oceanic Plate
Objectives:
 Explain the processes that occur along convergent boundaries.
 Determine the consequences of colliding plates.
Procedure:
1. Study the figure showing a cross-sectional diagram of plates that are converging, and
answer the questions that follow.
Guide Questions:
1. What type of plate is Plate A? What about Plate B? Why do you say so?
Answer: Plate A is considered to be the Convergent Plate Movement and the Plate B is the
Divergent Plate Movement.
2. Describe what happens to Plate A as it collides with Plate B? Why?
Answer: When Plate A and B collides, there will be a strong earthquake and sometimes
volcanic eruptions if there are volcano/s in the area of the strong earthquake.
3. What do you think may happen to the leading edge of Plate A as it continues to move
downward? Why?
Answer: It will go straight to the sea/ocean and it will form a tsunami.
4. What do you call this molten material?
Answer:
5. What is formed on top of Plate B?
Answer: On the top of Plate B, mountains form and the land starts to move
6. As the plates continue to grind against each other, what other geologic event could take
place?
Answer: Volcanic Erruption/s and tsunami (if the area of the earthquake is near the
coastal area).
Converging Oceanic Crust Leading Plate and Continental Crust Leading Plate
The previous activity depicts what happens during collision of two plates; one has
continental edge while the other has an oceanic edge. From the diagram, it is clear that
this event gives rise to the formation of a volcanic arc near the edge of a continental
leading plate. The reason for this is because the denser oceanic crust (Plate A)
undergoes what we call subduction process or the bending of the crust towards the
mantle. Since the mantle is hotter than the crust, the tendency is, the subducted crust
melt forming magma. Addition of volatile material such as water will cause the magma to
become less dense, hence allowing it to rise and reach the crust once again and causing
volcanic activities on the continental leading plate.
For the oceanic crust, one important geologic feature is formed, and that
is the trench. Also called submarine valleys, ocean trenches are the deepest
part of the ocean. One of the deepest is the Philippine trench with a depth of
10 540 meters.
Another subsequent effect of the continuous grinding of plates against
each other is the occurrence of earthquakes. The subduction of plate can
cause earthquakes at varying depths. Most parts of the world experience
occasional shallow earthquakes – where the focus is within 60 km of the Earth’s
surface. Of the total energy released by earthquakes, 85% comes from shallow
earthquakes. Meanwhile, about 12% of energy originates from intermediate
earthquakes or those quakes with a focal depth range of 60 to 300 km. Lastly,
are the deep earthquakes whose origin is more than 300 km to 700 km below
the Earth’s surface.
Part B: Convergence of Two Oceanic Plates
Procedure:
1. Study the figure. It shows a cross-section of two converging oceanic plates.

2. Using your knowledge gained from the previous activity, identify the geologic
events or features resulting from this collision.
Guide Questions:
1. What are the geologic processes/events that will occur because of this plate movement?
Answer: Sometimes tsunami will occur in this plate movement event.
2. What geologic features might form at the surface of Plate A?
Answer: The seafloor might move that will also occur a tsunami.
3. If the edge of Plate A suddenly flicks upward, a large amount of water may be displaced.
What could be formed at the surface of the ocean?
Answer: Definetly, it wil be a tsunami because if Plate A flicks upwards, there’s a
possibility that the water will rise and go straightly to the coastal area
Convergence of Oceanic Plates

Like the first type of convergent boundaries discussed earlier, converging oceanic plates
will cause formation of trenches, and these trenches will become sources of earthquakes.
Underwater earthquakes, especially the stronger ones, can generate tsunamis. The
Japanese term for “harbor wave,” tsunami is a series of ocean waves with very long
wavelengths (typically hundreds of kilometers) caused by large-scale disturbances of the
ocean.
The leading edge of the subducted plate will eventually reach the mantle causing it to
melt and turn into magma. The molten material will rise to the surface creating a volcanic
island arc parallel to the trench. Volcanic island arc is a chain of volcanoes position in an
arc shape as seen in figure below.

Divergent Plate Movement

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Josiah Ruiz | 10 – Patience | Science – 10 | Reynaldo Reyes, Jr.

Part A: Converging Continental Plate and Oceanic Plate

1. Study the figure. It shows a cross-section of two converging oceanic plates.

Convergence of Oceanic Plates

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