The force of gravity helps drive the subducting slab into the mantle. Subduction initiates when this dense crust converges with the less dense crust. As this new crust is pushed away from the spreading center by the formation of newer crust, it cools, thins, and becomes denser. These convection cells bring hot mantle material to the surface along spreading centers creating new crust. Convection cells are the result of heat generated by radioactive decay of elements in the mantle escaping to the surface and the return of cool materials from the surface to the mantle. Plate tectonics is driven by convection cells in the mantle.
The geologic features related to convergent boundaries vary depending on crust types. Convergent boundaries occur between oceanic-oceanic lithosphere, oceanic-continental lithosphere, and continental-continental lithosphere. These collisions happen on scales of millions to tens of millions of years and can lead to volcanism, earthquakes, orogenesis, destruction of lithosphere, and deformation. The subduction zone can be defined by a plane where many earthquakes occur, called the Benioff Zone.
One plate eventually slides beneath the other causing a process known as subduction.
Send us feedback.Wikipedia (3.67 / 3 votes) Rate this definition:Ī convergent boundary is an area on Earth where two or more lithospheric plates collide. These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'convergent.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Joshua Sokol, New York Times, 8 June 2019 See More 2019 Se Jin Song, a biologist at the University of California San Diego and the study’s lead author, had previously studied the convergent evolution of gut bacteria. Rachel Weiner, Washington Post, 23 July 2019 This is an example of what biologists call convergent evolution, when organisms evolve the same traits multiple times in different ways.Īvery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, 10 Apr.
2019 Lacking concrete proof of Turkey’s involvement, prosecutors pointed to convergent falsehoods told by Alptekin, Flynn and Rafiekian as well as the odd evolution of the project. 2020 In rodents, defense against predators (interspecies) and alpha males (conspecifics) activates very similar brain structures and behaviors, suggesting that there was substantial convergent evolution of these defenses.ĭean Mobbs, Scientific American, 20 Sep. Sara Kiley Watson, Popular Science, 9 Jan. 2020 This study demonstrates convergent evolution, Thomas says, as these creatures are so far off the evolutionary pathway from humans, but are in some ways similar to us. 2020 Unrelated species sometimes arrive at remarkably similar anatomies through a process called convergent evolution.Īsher Elbein, New York Times, 25 Feb. Sarah Lewin Frasier, Scientific American, 1 July 2015 Its hostile currents and depths of more than 700 feet are an incredible natural laboratory for studying convergent evolution, or how diverse species develop similar environmental adaptations.Īsher Elbein, New York Times, 25 Feb. Recent Examples on the Web Or did the auditory systems evolve independently to perform the same function, a phenomenon called convergent evolution?