Plates in the REAL WORLD!

Here are the pictures we discussed along with our plate tectonic notes in class today. Google Earth is amazing and gives us a look at what is actually happening and the landforms that are created as the plates move over time!

This is a great picture showing the Pacific plate moving north and subducting (convergent boundary) under the North American plate right along the Aleutian Islands of Alaska

Similar to the Aleutian Islands, in SE Asia there is oceanic crust subducting under oceanic crust.  This boundary creates many earth quakes and volcanoes

Here is an image zoomed out so you can see both above mentioned area all at once.  This is what we call the Ring of Fire.  The Pacific plate is subducting under both the North American plate and the Eurasian plate! 

Along the west coast of South America, we have a similar boundary to the ones above, however this is subduction between an oceanic plate (Nazca) and a continental plate (South American).

Above is a convergent boundary between the Indian plate and the Eurasian plate.  This convergent boudary is between two continental plates, which creates large mountains when the two push against one another.  Thus creating the largest mountain in the world Mt. Everest!