What is likely to occur at a plate boundary where oceanic crust collides with continental crust?
1 Answer
A subduction zone is most likely to occur, resulting in mountain building, volcanos. and earthquakes.
Explanation:
A converging boundary is most likely a place where the heat of the convection currents in the mantle is moving downward. This downward movement of the heat also results in a downward movement of the crust.
As the oceanic crust is thinner and more dense than the continental crust it is the oceanic crust that is drawn ( pushed) down into the mantle and melted. This results in the destruction of the sedimentary layers and fossils of the oceanic crust.
As the oceanic crust is pushed down the continental crust overrides the oceanic crust and is pushed up. This result is mountain ranges being formed at the convergent boundary of an oceanic crust and a continental crust. Also the magma from the melted oceanic crust rises to the surface, resulting in volcano's along the edge of the convergent boundary.
The large movements of the tectonic plates result in earthquakes. By plotting the location and depth of the earthquakes the shape of the subduction zone can be seen. Near the boundary the earthquakes are near the surface. Further from the boundary the earthquakes are progressively deeper in the earth.
So at the converging boundary of an oceanic tectonic plate and a continental tectonic plate, the oceanic plate is subducted resulting in mountain building, volcanos and earthquakes. The sedimentary layers of the oceanic crust with its fossils are destroyed, melted and turned back into magma and the mantle.
