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Divergent Boundaries: Divergent Boundaries Also Form Volcanic Islands Which Occur When The Plates Move Apart To Produce

Divergent plate boundaries occur where tectonic plates are moving away from each other. As the plates separate, new crust is generated by magma rising from the mantle to fill the gaps. Examples of divergent boundaries include the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where seafloor spreading has caused the Atlantic Ocean basin to widen over hundreds of millions of years. Iceland also demonstrates active separation as it straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, with new cracks appearing frequently at sites like the Krafla volcano.

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76 views4 pages

Divergent Boundaries: Divergent Boundaries Also Form Volcanic Islands Which Occur When The Plates Move Apart To Produce

Divergent plate boundaries occur where tectonic plates are moving away from each other. As the plates separate, new crust is generated by magma rising from the mantle to fill the gaps. Examples of divergent boundaries include the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where seafloor spreading has caused the Atlantic Ocean basin to widen over hundreds of millions of years. Iceland also demonstrates active separation as it straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, with new cracks appearing frequently at sites like the Krafla volcano.

Uploaded by

Greg Man
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Divergent plate boundary?

Parang tayo lang magkadikit dati pero ngayon unti-unti nang lumalayo sa
isa't-isa.

Divergent boundary : (moves away each other) May mga bagay talaga na magkasama pero
pinaghihiwalay ng tadhana.

Aerial panoramic view of volcanic island - Pacific Ocean, San Benedicto, Mexico Stock Video Footage -
Storyblocks Video

Divergent boundaries also form volcanic islands which occur when the plates move apart to produce
gaps which molten lava rises to fill.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divergent_boundary

 Divergent boundaries -- where new crust is generated as the plates pull away from each other.

 Divergent boundaries
 Divergent boundaries occur along spreading centers where plates are moving
apart and new crust is created by magma pushing up from the mantle. Picture
two giant conveyor belts, facing each other but slowly moving in opposite
directions as they transport newly formed oceanic crust away from the ridge
crest.
 Perhaps the best known of the divergent boundaries is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
This submerged mountain range, which extends from the Arctic Ocean to
beyond the southern tip of Africa, is but one segment of the global mid-ocean
ridge system that encircles the Earth. The rate of spreading along the Mid-
Atlantic Ridge averages about 2.5 centimeters per year (cm/yr), or 25 km in a
million years. This rate may seem slow by human standards, but because this
process has been going on for millions of years, it has resulted in plate
movement of thousands of kilometers. Seafloor spreading over the past 100 to
200 million years has caused the Atlantic Ocean to grow from a tiny inlet of
water between the continents of Europe, Africa, and the Americas into the vast
ocean that exists today.

  Mid-Atlantic Ridge [26 k]
 The volcanic country of Iceland, which straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, offers
scientists a natural laboratory for studying on land the processes also occurring
along the submerged parts of a spreading ridge. Iceland is splitting along the
spreading center between the North American and Eurasian Plates, as North
America moves westward relative to Eurasia.


 Map showing the Mid-Atlantic Ridge splitting Iceland and separating the
North American and Eurasian Plates. The map also shows Reykjavik, the
capital of Iceland, the Thingvellir area, and the locations of some of Iceland's
active volcanoes (red triangles), including Krafla.
 The consequences of plate movement are easy to see around Krafla Volcano, in
the northeastern part of Iceland. Here, existing ground cracks have widened and
new ones appear every few months. From 1975 to 1984, numerous episodes
of rifting (surface cracking) took place along the Krafla fissure zone. Some of
these rifting events were accompanied by volcanic activity; the ground would
gradually rise 1-2 m before abruptly dropping, signalling an impending
eruption. Between 1975 and 1984, the displacements caused by rifting totalled
about 7 m.

  Lava Fountains, Krafla Volcano [35 k]

 Thingvellir Fissure Zone, Iceland [80 k]


 In East Africa, spreading processes have already torn Saudi Arabia away from
the rest of the African continent, forming the Red Sea. The actively splitting
African Plate and the Arabian Plate meet in what geologists call a triple
junction, where the Red Sea meets the Gulf of Aden. A new spreading center
may be developing under Africa along the East African Rift Zone. When the
continental crust stretches beyond its limits, tension cracks begin to appear on
the Earth's surface. Magma rises and squeezes through the widening cracks,
sometimes to erupt and form volcanoes. The rising magma, whether or not it
erupts, puts more pressure on the crust to produce additional fractures and,
ultimately, the rift zone.

  Historically Active Volcanoes, East Africa [38 k]


 East Africa may be the site of the Earth's next major ocean. Plate interactions in
the region provide scientists an opportunity to study first hand how the Atlantic
may have begun to form about 200 million years ago. Geologists believe that, if
spreading continues, the three plates that meet at the edge of the present-day
African continent will separate completely, allowing the Indian Ocean to flood
the area and making the easternmost corner of Africa (the Horn of Africa) a
large island.
  Summit Crater of 'Erta 'Ale [55 k]

 Oldoinyo Lengai, East African Rift Zone [38 k]

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