GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -As the seafloor grows wider, the continents on opposite sides of the ridge move away from each other. The North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, for example, are separated by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The two continents are moving away from each other at the rate of about 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) per year.

Detailed explanation-2: -The distance between the United States and Europe is slowly growing wider–about an inch each year, geologists estimate, due to the expansion of the Atlantic Ocean. Politically, the Atlantic Ocean has been a much less stable barrier between the United States and Europe.

Detailed explanation-3: -The North American and Eurasian Plates are moving away from each other along the line of the Mid Atlantic Ridge. The Ridge extends into the South Atlantic Ocean between the South American and African Plates.

Detailed explanation-4: -The heat from radioactive processes within the planet’s interior causes the plates to move, sometimes toward and sometimes away from each other. This movement is called plate motion, or tectonic shift.

Detailed explanation-5: -Tectonic Plates Boundaries The Pacific Plate (on the west) slides horizontally northwestward relative to the North American Plate (on the east) at about 2 in/yr, causing earthquakes along the San Andreas and associated faults. For more information on plate tectonics see This Dynamic Earth.