Plate movements and their geometric relationships

Abstract

Three different types of plate boundaries were introduced in Chapter 1: constructive boundaries (mid-ocean ridges), conservative boundaries (transform faults), and destructive boundaries (subduction zones). We also introduced the concept that describes plate motion on the spherical surface of the Earth as the rotation of a given plate around an axis that passes through the center of the Earth. Therefore, every plate movement or relative movement between two plates can be described by the location of the pole of rotation and the angular velocity of the movement. Although this chapter uses geometry to explain the movement of plates, the major concepts presented here can be followed without using the equations with trigonometric functions.