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Newly-formed plates at oceanic ridges (constructive plate margins) are warm and so have a higher elevation at the oceanic ridge than the colder, more dense plate material further away; gravity causes the higher plate at the ridge to push away, causing the plates to move away from each other.
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.
- Divergent boundaries. Divergent boundaries occur along spreading centers where plates are moving apart and new crust is created by magma pushing up from the mantle.
- Convergent boundaries. The size of the Earth has not changed significantly during the past 600 million years, and very likely not since shortly after its formation 4.6 billion years ago.
- Transform boundaries. The zone between two plates sliding horizontally past one another is called a transform-fault boundary, or simply a transform boundary.
- Plate-boundary zones. Not all plate boundaries are as simple as the main types discussed above. In some regions, the boundaries are not well defined because the plate-movement deformation occurring there extends over a broad belt (called a plate-boundary zone).
Plates move apart at mid-ocean ridges where new seafloor forms. Between the two plates is a rift valley. Lava flows at the surface cool rapidly to become basalt, but deeper in the crust, magma cools more slowly to form gabbro.
Nov 29, 2023 · 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.
Plates move apart at mid-ocean ridges where new seafloor forms. Between the two plates is a rift valley. Lava flows at the surface cool rapidly to become basalt, but deeper in the crust, magma cools more slowly to form gabbro.
Plates interact in three ways: 1) Plates move away from each other at what are called divergent boundaries (also known as spreading centers); 2) Plates move towards each other at convergent boundaries, where continents collide creating mountain ranges or one plate sinks beneath another plate at a subduction zones and can form volcanic arcs; 3 ...
