The above photo is of the Emporeum and James Flood Building after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake (the virtual museum of the City of San Francisco).
What are Plate Boundary Zones?
Not all Tectonic Plate Boundaries are as simple as the three types previously described. There are times when small tectonic plates are interviening with two larger plates as they converge, diverge or transfrom with each other. When this happens, the area is considered a Plate Boundary Zone. This means that the interaction of the multiple plates is often too dificult to predict. Thus the volcanic and earthquake activity (way in which the earth will move) will be unpredictable. This makes planning for earthquakes difficult when it comes to engineering structures, emergency response (search and rescue) and what the resulting damage will be.
An example of a Plate Boundary Zone is found in the Mediteranian Ocean effecting the countries of Italy, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Isreal and Egypt. Here the African Continental Plate and the European Continental Plate are moving with smaller plates between them.
To learn more about Plate Boundary Zones, go to the National Geological Society website by clicking here.
To return to the types of Earthquakes, click here.
An example of a Plate Boundary Zone is found in the Mediteranian Ocean effecting the countries of Italy, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Isreal and Egypt. Here the African Continental Plate and the European Continental Plate are moving with smaller plates between them.
To learn more about Plate Boundary Zones, go to the National Geological Society website by clicking here.
To return to the types of Earthquakes, click here.