Why can volcanoes form at convergent boundaries?
A.Due to plates smashing together, the crust cracks and starts falling apart.
B.Due to subduction, a great height difference occurs on the sea floor.
C.Due to subduction, magma shoots out of the crust.
D.Due to plates smashing into each other, the crust folds upward.
C. Due to subduction, magma shoots out of the crust.
At convergent boundaries where an oceanic plate meets a continental plate or another oceanic plate, the denser oceanic plate typically gets forced, or subducted, under the other plate. As the subducting plate descends into the mantle, it experiences high pressures and temperatures. The addition of water and volatiles from the subducting slab lowers the melting point of the overlying mantle material, facilitating the production of magma.
This magma is less dense than the surrounding rock and, over time, works its way upward through the crust until it either reaches the surface, creating a volcanic eruption, or becomes trapped in chambers within the crust. When it reaches the surface, it can form a range of volcanic features, including stratovolcanoes that are common at convergent plate boundaries.