There's a lot of pushing and pulling between the plates.

Because these plates move independently,a fair amount of pushing and pulling between the plates occurs.The first type of interaction is a divergent boundary, in which two plates move away from one another.We see this in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between South America and Africa.The next interaction is when two plates collide,known as a convergent boundary.In this instance, the land is pushed upward to form large mountain ranges,like the Himalayas.In fact, the Indian Plate is still colliding with the Eurasian Plate,which is why Mount Everest grows one cm/year.