UNIT-4:-

Convergent Plate Boundaries

► Subduction zones and Trenches;

►Slab descent and evolution of magmatic arcs;
►Continental collision tectonics
 Convergent Plate
Convergent (destructive) boundaries
Boundaries
occur where where two or more plates move towards
each other commonly forming either a subduction zone
(if one plate moves underneath the other) or a continental
collision (if the two plates contain continental crust).
depending on the density of the involved plates.

Continental lithosphere is of lower density and thus

more buoyant than the underlying asthenosphere.

Oceanic lithosphere is more dense than continental

lithosphere, and, when old and cold, may even be more
dense than asthenosphere.
When plates of different densities converge, the higher
density plate is pushed beneath the more buoyant plate in
a process called subduction.

When continental plates converge without subduction

occurring, this process is called collision.

Deep marine trenches are typically associated with

subduction zones.

Here the dominant force is compression and the

ultimate result is major uplift resulting in mountain
belts.
The nature of a convergent boundary depends on the type
of lithosphere in the plates that are colliding.

At the surface, the topographic expression is commonly

an oceanic trench on the ocean side and a mountain range
on the continental side.

An example of a continental-oceanic subduction zone is

the area along the western coast of South America where
the oceanic Nazca Plate is being subducted beneath the
continental South American Plate.
As the subducting plate descends, its temperature rises driving off volatiles
(most importantly water) encased in the porous oceanic crust.

As this water rises into the mantle of the overriding plate, it lowers the melting
temperature of surrounding mantle, producing melts (magma) with large amounts
of dissolved gases.

These melts rise to the surface and are the source of some of the most
explosive volcanism on Earth because of their high volumes of extremely
pressurized gases (consider Mount St. Helens).

The melts rise to the surface and cool forming long chains of volcanoes inland
from the continental shelf and parallel to it.

Such volcanoes are characterized by alternating periods of quiet and episodic

eruptions that start with explosive gas expulsion with fine particles of glassy
volcanic ash and spongy cinders, followed by a rebuilding phase with hot
magma.

 The entire Pacific Ocean boundary is surrounded by long stretches of

volcanoes and is known collectively as The Ring of Fire.
Interactions along convergent boundaries involve the
collision of pairs of plates where oceanic lithosphere is
often destroyed at subduction zones.

 Ocean ridges and subduction zones are boundaries

between plates of lithosphere.

Oceanic lithosphere is destroyed at subduction zones

where lithosphere descends into the mantle beneath
trenches.

This older lithosphere melts to form magma.

 The magma rises through the overlying lithosphere and

may form volcanoes at Earth's surface.
Convergent boundaries come in three varieties
depending upon the type of lithosphere that is
juxtaposed across a subduction zone.

Oceanic Plate vs. Oceanic Plate Convergence

Oceanic Plate vs. Continental Plate Convergence

Continental Plate vs. Continental Plate Convergence

Oceanic Plate vs. Oceanic Plate Convergence
When two plates with oceanic crust converge they
typically create an island arc as one plate is subducted
below the other.

The arc is formed from volcanoes which erupt through

the overriding plate as the descending plate melts below
it.

A deep undersea trench is located in front of such arcs

where the descending slab dips downward.

Good examples of this type of plate convergence would

be Japan and the Aleutian Islands in Alaska
The older of the two plates descends into the subduction zone
when plates of oceanic lithosphere collide along a trench.

The descending plate carries water-filled sediments from the

ocean floor downward into the mantle.

The presence of water alters the physical and chemical

conditions necessary for melting and causes magma to form.

The magma rises up through the overriding oceanic plate,

reaching the surface as a volcano.

As the volcano grows, it may rise above sea level to form an
island.
Locations of convergent plate boundaries and sense of plate
motion indicated by arrows. Map courtesy of NOAA National
Geophysical Data Center.
Trenches often lie adjacent to chains of islands (island
arcs) formed by magma from the subducted plate.

The Aleutian Islands off the tip of Alaska were formed

by magma generated when the Pacific Plate descended
below some oceanic lithosphere on the margin of the
North American Plate.

 Current volcanic activity on the island of Montserrat in

the Caribbean is the result of subduction of the South
American Plate below an island arc that marks the edge
of the Caribbean Plate .
Features associated with a convergent plate boundary where two oceanic plates
collide. The plate with the older (cooler, more dense) crust descends into the
subduction zone. A chain of volcanic islands (island arc) forms on the overriding
plate.
Plates may collide at an oblique angle rather than head-
on to each other (e.g. one plate moving north, the other
moving south-east), and this may cause strike-slip
faulting along the collision zone, in addition to
subduction or compression.
Oceanic Plate vs. Continental Plate Convergence

When oceanic lithosphere collides with

continental lithosphere, the oceanic plate will
descend into the subduction zone .

Oceanic lithosphere is denser than continental

lithosphere and is therefore consumed
preferentially.

Continental lithosphere is almost never

destroyed in subduction zones.
Summary diagram of processes at a convergent plate
boundary between an oceanic and continental plate.
 Subduction
Subduction occurs when a dense oceanic plate meets a more
buoyant plate, like a continental plate or warmer/younger oceanic
plate, and descends into the mantle.

The worldwide average rate of oceanic plate subduction is 25

miles per million years, about a half-inch per year.

As an oceanic plate descends, it pulls the ocean floor down into a
trench.

These trenches can be more than twice as deep as the average

depth of the adjacent ocean basin, which is usually three to four km.
The Mariana Trench, for example, approaches a staggering 11 km.
Within the trench, ocean floor sediments are scraped
together and compressed between the subducting and
overriding plates. This feature is called the accretionary
wedge, mélange, or accretionary prism.

Fragments of continental material, including

microcontinents, riding a top the subducting plate may
become sutured to the accretionary wedge and accumulate
into a large area of land called a terrane.

Vast portions of California are comprised of accreted

terranes.
When the subducting oceanic plate, or slab, sinks into
the mantle, the immense heat and pressure pushes volatile
materials like water and carbon dioxide into an area
below the continental plate and above the descending
plate called the mantle wedge.

The volatiles are released mostly by hydrated minerals

that revert to non-hydrated minerals in these higher
temperature and pressure conditions.

When mixed with asthenospheric material above the

plate, the volatile lower the melting point of the mantle
wedge, and through a process called flux melting it
becomes liquid magma.
The molten magma is more buoyant than
the lithospheric plate above it and migrates to
the Earth’s surface where it emerges as
volcanism.

The resulting volcanoes frequently appear

as curved mountain chains, volcanic arcs,
due to the curvature of the earth.

Both oceanic and continental plates can

contain volcanic arcs.
Subduction zones are known for having the largest earthquakes
and tsunamis; they are the only places with fault surfaces large
enough to create magnitude-9 earthquakes.

These subduction-zone earthquakes not only are very large, but

also are very deep. When a subducting slab becomes stuck and
cannot descend, a massive amount of energy builds up between the
stuck plates.

 If this energy is not gradually dispersed, it may force the plates

to suddenly release along several hundred kilometers of the
subduction zone.

 Because subduction-zone faults are located on the ocean floor,

this massive amount of movement can generate giant tsunamis such
as those that followed the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and 2011
Tōhoku Earthquake in Japan.
Continental Plate vs. Continental Plate Convergence
Where two continental plates collide the plates either buckle and
compress or one plate delves under or (in some cases) overrides the
other.
Either action will create extensive mountain ranges.

The tallest mountains in the world were formed (and continue to

grow) as a result of continental collision.

The Himalayan mountains mark the boundary between the Indian

and Eurasian plates.

The collision of the plates began over 40 million years ago when
India smashed into the belly of Asia.

 Continental lithosphere is relatively light and is deformed adjacent

to subduction zones rather than consumed.
Collisions

When continental plates converge, during the closing of an ocean

basin for example, subduction is not possible between the equally
buoyant plates. Instead of one plate descending beneath another, the
two masses of continental lithosphere slam together in a process
known as collision.

Without subduction, there is no magma formation and no

volcanism.

Collision zones are characterized by tall, non-volcanic

mountains; a broad zone of frequent, large earthquakes; and very
little volcanism.
When oceanic crust connected by a passive margin to
continental crust completely subducts beneath a
continent, an ocean basin closes, and continental collision
begins.

Eventually, as ocean basins close, continents join

together to form a massive accumulation of continents
called a supercontinent, a process that has taken place in
~500 million year old cycles over earth’s history.

The process of collision created Pangea, the

supercontinent envisioned by Wegener as the key
component of his continental drift hypothesis.
In very rare cases, part of a continental plate may become trapped
beneath a descending oceanic plate in a process called obduction.

As pieces of the continental lithosphere break loose and migrate

upward through the obduction zone, they bring along bits of the
mantle and ocean floor and amend them on top of the continental
plate. Rocks composed of this mantle and ocean-floor material are
called ophiolites and they provide valuable information about the
composition of the mantle.

The area of collision-zone deformation and seismic activity usually

covers a broader area because continental lithosphere is plastic and
malleable. Unlike subduction-zone earthquakes, which tend to be
located along a narrow swath near the convergent boundary,
collision-zone earthquakes may occur hundreds of kilometers from
the boundary between the plates.