What happens when a oceanic and oceanic plate diverge?
Divergent boundaries in the middle of the ocean contribute to seafloor spreading. As plates made of oceanic crust pull apart, a crack in the ocean floor appears. Magma then oozes up from the mantle to fill in the space between the plates, forming a raised ridge called a mid-ocean ridge.
What happens when plate diverge?
The plates diverge and this causes the construction of new rock. It happens when two tectonic plates pull apart and rock from the mantle rises up through the opening to form new surface rock when it cools. It happens at the start of a new ocean and continues at the mid-ocean ridge while the ocean is opening.
What happens at a divergent plate under the ocean on land?
Plate Divergence on Land When plate divergence occurs on land, the continental crust rifts, or splits. This effectively creates a new ocean basin as the pieces of the continent move apart. In continental rifting, magma rises beneath the continent, causing it to become thinner, break, and ultimately split apart.
What happens when an oceanic plate and a continental plate diverge?
For example, when two continental plates diverge from each other, an ocean basin is created due to the separation of land. On the other hand, if two oceanic plates diverged, a mid ocean ridge would form, which is also known as a spreading center.
What geologic feature is formed between the diverging oceanic plates?
Most divergent plate boundaries are underwater and form submarine mountain ranges called oceanic spreading ridges. While the process of forming these mountain ranges is volcanic, volcanoes and earthquakes along oceanic spreading ridges are not as violent as they are at convergent plate boundaries.
What forms at a divergent boundary?
A divergent plate boundary often forms a mountain chain known as a ridge. This feature forms as magma escapes into the space between the spreading tectonic plates.
Which of the following is the effect of divergent boundary between oceanic plates?
Effects that are found at a divergent boundary between oceanic plates include: a submarine mountain range such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge; volcanic activity in the form of fissure eruptions; shallow earthquake activity; creation of new seafloor and a widening ocean basin.
Can oceanic and continental plates diverge?
Unlike convergent boundaries, divergence occurs between only oceanic or only continental plates, not one of each. The vast majority of divergent boundaries are found in the ocean, where they were not mapped or understood until the mid-to-late 20th century.
What do divergent plates under the ocean cause?
Divergent plate boundaries in the ocean create mid-ocean ridges. This is where new seafloor is created by upwelling magma. Divergent plate boundaries rift a continent apart. Eventually a new ocean will form between the two continents.
Where does divergence of plates usually happen?
Most divergent boundaries are located along mid-ocean oceanic ridges (although some are on land). The mid-ocean ridge system is a giant undersea mountain range, and is the largest geological feature on Earth; at 65,000 km long and about 1000 km wide, it covers 23% of Earth's surface (Figure 4.5. 1).
Why do divergent boundaries form mid-ocean ridges?
Mid-ocean ridges occur along divergent plate boundaries, where new ocean floor is created as the Earth's tectonic plates spread apart. As the plates separate, molten rock rises to the seafloor, producing enormous volcanic eruptions of basalt.