What is caused by slab pull?
Slab Pull. Slab Pull. As a crustal plate moves further from an oceanic ridge, it cools and becomes increasingly dense. This causes it to sink beneath the continental crust in a subduction zone.
What causes ridge pull and slab pull?
‘Ridge Push’ and ‘Slab Pull’ are thought to be the major forces driving the motion of oceanic plates. Ridge push is caused by the potential energy gradient from the high topography of the ridges. Slab pull is caused by the negative buoyancy of the subducting plate.
What is the effects of ridge push?
Ridge push is the result of gravitational forces acting on the young, raised oceanic lithosphere around mid-ocean ridges, causing it to slide down the similarly raised but weaker asthenosphere and push on lithospheric material farther from the ridges.
What do plate movements cause?
Plate motions cause mountains to rise where plates push together, or converge, and continents to fracture and oceans to form where plates pull apart, or diverge. The continents are embedded in the plates and drift passively with them, which over millions of years results in significant changes in Earth’s geography.
What causes Ridge pull?
plate tectonics (the Mid-Atlantic Ridge), known as ridge push, in the Atlantic Ocean. This push is caused by gravitational force, and it exists because the ridge occurs at a higher elevation than the rest of the ocean floor. As rocks near the ridge cool, they become denser, and gravity pulls them away…
How does slab pull cause tectonic plates to move?
One explanation for plate movements is slab pull. Plates are extremely heavy so gravity acts upon them, pulling them apart. Alternatively, as shown in the diagram, convection currents under the Earth’s crust transfer heat, which rises through the surface and cools back down in a circular motion.
When does slab pull occur?
Slab pull occurs when an oceanic plate subducts into the underlying mantle. Subduction zones are just one type of convergent boundary where two tectonic plates are colliding.
What causes ridge pull?
How does ridge push affect slab pull?
Ridge Push However, this idea has now changed with the main mechanism determined to be slab pull. However, ridge push is still considered to be of significance, especially where there is little or no slab pull acting on the plate (eg the Antarctic Plate mentioned above).
How does ridge push effect slab pull?
“ridge push” The lithosphere thickens with distance (and time) away from the midocean ridge. “slab pull” As lithospheric plates move away from midocean ridges they cool and become denser. They eventually become more dense than the underlying hot mantle.
Where is slab pull located?
Slab pull occurs at a convergent boundary and subduction zone. The force of the dense oceanic plate subducting under the continental plate and gravitationally being pulled into the mantle results in the rest of the plate being pulled along with it.
What is the reason why slab pull resist in subducting?
Collisional Resistance This force directly opposes the slab pull force. It occurs as the heavy basaltic plate is pulled down into the mantle. The collisional force occurs because the mantle, although less dense than the subducting plate, still resists subduction to some extent due to friction.