This is an illustration of the Earth laid out flat and show- ing the major cracks (faults) (in the Earth’s crust. Each section of the Earth’s crust is called a crustal plate. Most of the crustal plates include a continent and part of a nearby ocean. The only exept would be the Pacific plate which is mostly Pacific Ocean. Each crustal plate in the illustration is identified by a single color. Both the land and water are the same color.

This illustration shows what is happening at the edges or boundary areas of each plate The edges of a plate is called the plate boundary. The plate boundaries in the Illustration are colored red, blue and yellow. Blue are convergent boundaries where the two plates are pushing towards each other. Red are divergent boundaries where the two plates are being pulled apart. Yellow are transform boundaries where two plates are sliding past each other.

Convergent boundaries can cause the crust to be compressed and form mountains or folding in sedimentary rock

Divergent Boundaries: are where crustal plates pull apart from one another with rift valley’s forming at the edges. Since the plates spread, often magma fills the lower valley and provides new crust material (igneous rock) after cooling.

Transform Boundaries slide past each other relocating streams, mountains, and valleys. Example: the San Andreas Fault that runs through California.

The three types of plate boundaries are determined by the direction of forces placed on them

Faults are cracks or breaks in the Earth’s crust that generally run though the entire thickness of the crust. Faults occur at plate boundaries and other places. They have been made by forces each cause the rock to break beyond their normal range of bending similar to a branch being bent and then snapping.

As you can see in this illustration, faults usually occur on an angle rather than on vertical or up and down plans.

1. Strike-slip faults 2. Normal faults 3. Reverse faults, also called thrust faults

Strike-slip faults indicate rocks are sliding past each other horizontally, with little to no vertical movement. Both the San Andreas and Anatolian Faults are strike- slip.

Normal faults create space. Two blocks of crust pull apart, stretching the crust into a valley. The Basin and Range Province in North America and the East African Rift Zone are two well- known regions where normal faults are spreading apart Earth's crust. Divergent

Reverse faults, also called thrust faults, slide one block of crust on top of another. These faults are commonly found in collisions zones, where tectonic plates push up mountain ranges such as the Himalayas and the Rocky Mountains. Compression

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