EARTH SCIENCE
TECTONICS
Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
|
|
Molten rock rises from magma from the mantle and fills the gap between plates.
|
|
Oceanic crust is pushed further from the ridge and closer to the continental crust.
|
|
Magma hardens and forms new crust along the edges of plates.
|
|
None of the above
|
Detailed explanation-1: -The Mid Atlantic Ridge, like other ocean ridge systems, has developed as a consequence of the divergent motion between the Eurasian and North American, and African and South American Plates.
Detailed explanation-2: -What causes mid-ocean ridges to form? Mid-ocean ridges form at divergent plate boundaries, where seafloor spreading leads to the production of new ocean crust. This new crust is formed due to igneous intrusions and extrusions as magma either cools beneath the Earth’s surface or erupts as lava above the Earth’s surface.
Detailed explanation-3: -As the plates move further apart, new ocean lithosphere is formed at the ridge and the ocean basin gets wider. This process, known as “sea floor spreading”, is happening at an average rate of about 2.5 cm per year (1 inch). In other words, North America and Europe are moving away from each other at a very slow rate.
Detailed explanation-4: -The Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) is a volcanic mountain range that rises from the Atlantic abyssal plain, extending from the Arctic (Gakkel Ridge) to the Antarctic (Bouvet Triple Junction) across the two hemispheres, ranging more than 16, 000 km.