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🌍

Tectonic Settings

How plate interactions shape Earth's landscapes, hazards, and resources

Earth Science • Plate Tectonics & Structural Geology🚀 Intermediate

This concept explains the major tectonic settings — divergent, convergent, and transform — and how their interactions create mountains, earthquakes, and volcanoes. Learners will connect plate boundary types to characteristic geologic features and hazards.

⏱️
90 minTypical time
📋
3Prerequisites
🎯
4Learning outcomes

📋Prerequisites

  • Basic Earth science (rock types, Earth's layers)
  • Introductory plate tectonics concepts
  • Basic map and cross‑section reading

🎯What You'll Learn

  • Identify and describe divergent, convergent (including subduction and collision), and transform plate boundaries
  • Relate tectonic settings to landforms, volcanic activity, and seismicity
  • Interpret geological maps, cross sections, and simple seismic/volcanic data in terms of plate interactions
  • Assess geological hazards and resource implications tied to specific tectonic settings

🔗Related Concepts

prerequisitePlate Tectonics (Foundations)
builds-onEarthquake Hazards and Risk
builds-onVolcanism and Magmatic Processes
similar-toPaleogeography & Plate Reconstructions
similar-toStructural Geology (Faults & Folds)

🔑Key Concepts

  • Plate boundary types (divergent, convergent, transform)
  • Subduction zones vs continental collision
  • Spreading centers and mid-ocean ridges
  • Accretionary prisms, volcanic arcs, and forearc/backarc basins
  • Typical Geological Features

  • Mid-ocean ridges and rift valleys
  • Island and continental volcanic arcs
  • Fold-and-thrust belts and mountain ranges
  • Transform faults, strike-slip basins, and shear zones
  • Data & Tools

  • Global plate motion models and plate boundary maps
  • Seismicity catalogs and focal mechanism solutions
  • Topography and bathymetry datasets
  • Geologic maps, cross-sections, and GIS visualization
  • Applications

  • Earthquake and volcanic hazard assessment
  • Natural resource (minerals, hydrocarbon) exploration context
  • Paleogeographic reconstruction and tectonic history
  • Urban and infrastructure planning in active tectonic zones
  • 🌍

    Introduction to Tectonic Settings

    Foundational overview: what tectonic settings are, why they matter, and the big-picture categories of plate interactions.

    ⏱️12 min

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    Definition: Tectonic setting and key terms

    Quick summary cards

    🖼️

    No images to display

    List: Main categories of plate boundaries

    🔗

    Plate Boundary Types

    Detailed look at convergent, divergent, and transform boundaries, including structure, movement, and typical features.

    ⏱️18 min

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    ⚙️

    Tectonic Processes and Mechanisms

    Mechanics driving tectonic activity: mantle convection, slab pull, ridge push, rifting, and transform motion.

    ⏱️20 min

    Tectonic plates move due to convection in the mantle. Hot mantle material slowly rises, cools, and sinks, dragging plates along. Two key mechanisms are slab pull, where dense subducting edges pull the rest of the plate downward, and ridge push, where gravity drives newly formed lithosphere away from mid-ocean ridges. Together, these processes cause the plates to converge, diverge, and slide past one another, driving geological activity at faults, volcanoes, and earthquakes.

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    Definition: Slab pull, ridge push, and mantle flow

    Slab pull is the downward gravitational force when a cold, dense plate sinks at subduction zones, pulling the rest of the plate; ridge push is the gravitational force that pushes lithosphere away from elevated mid-ocean ridges; mantle flow refers to convection currents in the mantle that drive and modulate plate motions.

    Timeline
    200 Ma

    Initiation of continental rifting

    Pangaea begins to break apart, thinning continental lithosphere and forming rift basins.

    180 Ma

    Rift valley development and magmatic activity

    Normal faulting widens the rift; volcanism fills basins with volcanic rocks.

    160 Ma

    Proto-ocean basin forms

    Continental margins subsidence allows a developing seaway, creating a proto-ocean basin.

    150 Ma

    Onset of seafloor spreading

    Mid-ocean ridge begins to pull apart oceanic crust; the basin widens.

    130 Ma

    Establishment of a stable ocean basin

    Active seafloor spreading creates expanding oceanic crust and clearer margins.

    100 Ma

    Mature ocean basin with cooling lithosphere

    Ocean basin grows; oceanic crust cools and thickens away from spreading centers.

    50 Ma

    Tectonic reorganization and margin development

    Ridge jumps and margin formation continue, reshaping basin boundaries.

    0 Ma

    Present-day mature ocean basin

    The basin persists with ongoing seafloor spreading at ridges and passive margins.

    🎥Explainer: Animation of plate driving forces

    Which of the following best defines a business process?

    What is the primary purpose of process mapping?

    Which process-improvement methodology focuses on maximizing value and eliminating waste?

    In process analysis, what is a bottleneck?

    ⛰️

    Geological Features & Hazards

    Surface and subsurface features formed by tectonics and the associated geological hazards (earthquakes, volcanism, tsunamis).

    ⏱️16 min
    🗺️

    Location

    Cultural Heritage Site

    0.0000° N, 0.0000° E

    📍
    Shield volcano cross-section

    Shield volcano with layered lava flows

    Caldera eruption chamber

    Caldera forming eruption and collapse

    Ocean trench cross-section

    Ocean trench with subduction and volcanic arc

    Transform fault map

    Transform fault system and lateral plate movement

    Volcanic edifices at plate boundaries

    Volcanic edifices along plate tectonic boundaries

    All Images

    Shield volcano cross-section
    Caldera eruption chamber
    Ocean trench cross-section
    Transform fault map
    Volcanic edifices at plate boundaries

    Pros-cons: Comparing hazard likelihood by setting

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    What is the purpose of flashcards in learning?

    ?

    To enhance memorization through active recall by testing knowledge and reinforcing memory.

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    1 / 6

    ⌨️ Space: Flip • ← →: Navigate • R: Shuffle

    🎯

    Learning Activities & Assessment

    Practice, assessment, and resources to reinforce understanding and apply knowledge to real-world problems.

    ⏱️14 min
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    AaeLQfcq

    Ask an expert: Live Q&A for complex questions
    🎓

    Extended module: Learner course on tectonics

    🎓
    learner

    completion

    This certifies that

    has successfully completed

    Issued on

    October 9, 2025

    🏆

    Credential ID: