Divergent movement occurs when the plates pull apart and move away from each other. Divergent plate boundaries are the sites of earthquakes, volcanoes, mid-oceanic ridges, or continental rift. Ridges on the ocean floor are caused by divergent movement. The plates pull apart and a rift valley is formed. Magma rises and fills the rift valley and ocean ridges are formed.
Convergent movement occurs when the plates move toward each other and collide.
Convergent plate boundaries are the sites of trenches, island arc volcanoes, earthquakes, folded mountains, and volcanoes at continent-ocean boundaries. When plates have convergent movement, the solid rock is moved upward in what looks like rolls or rounded layers. By looking at the side of a mountain and seeing layers of rock in joined rounded layers, you can identify a mountain made by convergent movement of plates. Transform movement occurs when plates slide horizontally past each other. Earthquakes occur at transform plate boundaries.