Destructive
These cause violent volcanoes and earthquakes, as well as deep-ocean trenches and fold mountains.
These occur when an oceanic plate and continental plate move towards each other. The denser oceanic plate dives under the lighter continental one, creating a deep ocean trench. As the oceanic plate goes deeper into mantle it melts in the subduction zone, due to friction and the increased temperature as discussed earlier. The newly molten rock is lighter that that which surrounds it, so it will rise towards the surface and cause volcanoes on the earth's surface. This process will be continuous and will keep occurring, which is a reason why for some locations, volcanic eruptions will always be a risk and hazard to the area in which the live. The continental crust is crumpled by the collision of the two plates creating Fold Mountains. If the magma rises offshore it will form an Island Arc, like the West Indies and Japan
These occur when an oceanic plate and continental plate move towards each other. The denser oceanic plate dives under the lighter continental one, creating a deep ocean trench. As the oceanic plate goes deeper into mantle it melts in the subduction zone, due to friction and the increased temperature as discussed earlier. The newly molten rock is lighter that that which surrounds it, so it will rise towards the surface and cause volcanoes on the earth's surface. This process will be continuous and will keep occurring, which is a reason why for some locations, volcanic eruptions will always be a risk and hazard to the area in which the live. The continental crust is crumpled by the collision of the two plates creating Fold Mountains. If the magma rises offshore it will form an Island Arc, like the West Indies and Japan
A good example of this is where the Nazca plate dives underneath the South American plate. This has caused volcanoes, earthquakes and the formation of the Andes Mountain Range.
Nazca is a relatively young plate both in terms of the age of its rocks and its existence as an independent plate having been formed from the break-up of the Farallon Plate about 23 million years ago. The oldest rocks of the plate are about 50 million years old.