Key learning points

1. There are four main types of plate boundary: conservative, constructive, collision and destructive.
2. At a conservative plate boundary, the tectonic plates move past each other, causing earthquakes.
3. At a constructive plate boundary, the tectonic plates move apart, causing volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.
4. At collision plate boundaries, plates move together, causing earthquakes.
5. At destructive plate boundaries, plates move together, causing volcanoes and earthquakes.

Keywords

• Tectonic plate - the huge pieces that Earth’s crust is broken into are known as tectonic plates

• Plate boundary - where two tectonic plates meet is known as a plate boundary

• Dense - a lot of mass packed into a small space

Common misconception