DK - WOW! The Visual Encyclopedia of Everything

157

FRACTURED GLOBE ▶

The plates fit together to form the

globe. Some plates are moving apart

at divergent boundaries, but the world

never gets bigger because the fringes

of other plates are being destroyed

at convergent boundaries. The

relative movement of the Pacific,

Cocos, and Caribbean plates

shows how the plate boundaries

are formed.

3

Transform boundaries

These form

where two plates are sliding past

each other. This causes frequent

earthquakes along the fault line,

but few volcanoes.

Plates grind and

snap, causing

Earthquakes

Land features

displaced by plate

movement

Plate boundary

indicated by

fault line

Pacific plate slides

along transform

boundary of San

Andreas Fault

Plates pull apart at

East Pacific Rise, a

divergent boundary

Cocos plate pushes

beneath Caribbean plate

at convergent boundary

North American

plate

South

American plate

Pacific plate

Nazca plate

Cocos plate

Caribbean plate

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