Moving Tectonic Plates

An artist's cross section illustrating the main types of plate boundaries.

The East African Rift Zone is a good example of a continental rift zone.

Credits

Drawing, courtesy USGS (United States Geological Survey).

Cross section by José F. Vigil from This Dynamic Planet - a wall map produced jointly by the U.S. Geological Survey, the Smithsonian Institution, and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.