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Where is the Mid Atlantic Ridge located?
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The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is in effect an immensely long mountain chain extending for about 10,000 miles (16,000 km) in a curving path from the Arctic Ocean to near the southern tip of Africa. The ridge is equidistant between the continents on either side of it.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a mid-ocean ridge (a divergent or constructive plate boundary) located along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, and part of the longest mountain range in the world. In the North Atlantic, the ridge separates the North American from the Eurasian Plate and the African Plate, north and south of the Azores Triple Junction.
Mid-Atlantic Ridge. 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.
- Description
- Notable Features
- History of Exploration
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) is known as a mid-ocean ridge, an underwater mountain system formed by plate tectonics. It is the result of a divergent plate boundary that runs from 87° N – about 333 km (207 mi) south of the North Pole – to 54 °S, just north of the coast of Antarctica. Like other ocean ridge systems, the MAR developed as a consequence...
As noted, the ridge (while mainly underwater) does have islands and island groups that were created by volcanic activity. In the Northern Hemisphere, these include Jan Mayen Island and Iceland (Norway), and the Azores (Portugal). In the Southern Hemisphere, MAR features include Ascension Island, St. Helena, Tristan da Cunha, Gough Island (all UK te...
The ridge was initially discovered in 1872 during the expedition of the HMS Challenger. In the course of investigating the Atlantic for the sake of laying the transatlantic telegraph cable, the crew discovered a large rise in the middle of the ocean floor. By 1925, its existence was confirmed thanks to the invention of sonar. By the 1960s, scientis...
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is an underwater mountain range that runs down the center of the Atlantic Ocean, formed by the divergence of tectonic plates. This feature is a prime example of a constructive plate boundary where new oceanic crust is created, leading to volcanic activity and frequent seismic events.
Along these boundaries, earthquakes are common and magma (molten rock) rises from the Earth’s mantle to the surface, solidifying to create new oceanic crust. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is an example of divergent plate boundaries. When two plates come together, it is known as a convergent boundary.
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a vast underwater mountain range that runs down the center of the Atlantic Ocean, marking the boundary between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates in the north and the African and South American plates in the south.
