Convergent / collision
Divergent (rift / ridge)
Transform (shear)
Hover the map for crust details
This top-down 2D companion to the 3D globe drives the same rigid-plate idea from a flat map that is easier to read quantitatively: five to nine plates drift at their own real cm/yr velocity, a live Voronoi tessellation turns those velocities into moving plate boundaries, and each boundary is classified every frame from the actual relative velocity of its two plates — convergent boundaries subduct the denser or older crust and raise mountains or a collision belt, divergent boundaries spread new seafloor that cools and subsides with age (with continental rifts eventually breaking into new ocean), and transform boundaries accumulate elastic stress that releases as a genuine stick-slip earthquake. Switch between Elevation, Plates and Crust-age views, or read the cross-cutting trench-to-ridge profile along the map's centre row.