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It is oceanic
Usually when it meets another tectonic plate at a convergent plate boundary. If the oceanic plate converges with a continental plate the denser oceanic plate will be forced under the continental plate. If it converges with another oceanic plate the older (and therefore cooler and denser) plate will be forced under the younger plate.
It's because the oceanic plate is more dense than the continental plate.
oceanic plate
the oceanic plate is less bouyant so it slides under the continental plate
The oceanic plate must be more dense than the continental plate for this to happen.
When an oceanic plate and a continental plate collide, the oceanic plate is always subducted. Oceanic plates are denser than continental plates, and they have a higher iron content. Since they are denser, oceanic plates always sink below the continental plate in the event of a collision.
The Antarctic plate is Oceanic.
Oceanic-continental convergence (when an oceanic plate meets a continental plate) & oceanic-oceanic convergence (2 oceanic plates) both involve oceanic plates & subduction. Continental-continental convergence (2 continental plates) involves neither.
Continental plate.
When an oceanic plate goes under a continental plate, the subducting plate ---> oceanic creates a curved line of volcanoes along the edge of the overlying continental plate.
Continental plate.