GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -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.

Detailed explanation-2: -Seafloor spreading occurs at divergent plate boundaries. As tectonic plates slowly move away from each other, heat from the mantle’s convection currents makes the crust more plastic and less dense. The less-dense material rises, often forming a mountain or elevated area of the seafloor. Eventually, the crust cracks.

Detailed explanation-3: -1. Age of the crust: Comparing the ages of the oceanic crust near a mid-ocean ridge shows that the crust is youngest right at the spreading center, and gets progressively older as you move away from the divergent boundary in either direction, aging approximately 1 million years for every 20-40 km from the ridge.

Detailed explanation-4: -The oldest oceanic crust is around 280 Ma in the eastern Mediterranean, and the oldest parts of the open ocean are around 180 Ma on either side of the north Atlantic.

Detailed explanation-5: -Answer and Explanation: Oceanic crust is destroyed along subduction zones around convergent plate boundaries.