Where two continental plates collide the plates either buckle and compress or (in some cases) one plate delves called subduction, under the other.
Definition of "continental plates" is the realm of geologists.
As they grate together, the continental plates are deformed and buckle causing mountain building and seismic activity.
As the continental plates moved apart, they ruptured, and blocks subsided along fault lines forming the rift valleys that became sedimentary basins.
This style of deformation is typical of continental plates adjacent to convergent margins of long duration that have not sustained continent/continent collisions.
Near some boundaries between the land and sea, the slightly denser oceanic plates slide beneath the continental plates and more subduction trenches are formed.
As the continental plates migrate across the planet, the ocean floor is subducted under the leading edges.
Orogens or orogenic belts develop while a continental plate is crumpled and is pushed upwards to form mountain ranges, and involve a great range of geological processes collectively called orogenesis.
