What is oceanic divergent boundary?
Divergent boundaries are spreading boundaries, where new oceanic crust is created to fill in the space as the plates move apart. Most divergent boundaries are located along mid-ocean oceanic ridges (although some are on land). Running down the middle of the mid-ocean ridge is a rift valley 25-50 km wide and 1 km deep.
What happens at an oceanic oceanic divergent boundary?
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.
Are divergent boundaries in the ocean?
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.
How do you divergent plate boundaries affect oceans?
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.
How do divergent plate boundaries form?
A divergent boundary occurs when two tectonic plates move away from each other. 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. Two plates sliding past each other forms a transform plate boundary.
What landforms are created by divergent boundaries?
At DIVERGENT boundaries the plates move apart allowing molten magma to rise and form new crust in the form of ridges, valleys and volcanoes. Landforms created by divergent plates include the Mid Atlantic Ridge and the Great African Rift Valley.
What do oceanic oceanic boundaries form?
An ocean-ocean convergent boundary occurs location where two oceanic plates come together and the denser plate sinks, or subducts, beneath the less dense plate, forming a deep ocean trench. Chains of volcanoes, called island arcs, form over subduction zone melting occurs where the subducting plate reenters the mantle.
What causes the motion of oceanic oceanic divergence?
Divergent boundaries occur along spreading centers where plates are moving apart and new crust is created by magma pushing up from the mantle. Picture two giant conveyor belts, facing each other but slowly moving in opposite directions as they transport newly formed oceanic crust away from the ridge crest.
Which zone is formed in the divergent plate boundary?
Divergent boundaries within continents initially produce rifts, which eventually become rift valleys. Most active divergent plate boundaries occur between oceanic plates and exist as mid-oceanic ridges.
What do divergent plates underneath the ocean cause?
Divergent boundaries in the middle of the oceans cause seafloor spreading. As the oceanic plates move apart they produce cracks in the ocean floor. Magma rises up from the mantle and oozes out from the cracks like a long, thin undersea volcano. This magma cools to form a new crust of igneous rock.
What does divergent plate boundaries cause?
When two plates are moving away from each other, we call this a divergent plate boundary. Along these boundaries, magma rises from deep within the Earth and erupts to form new crust on the lithosphere. As the plates rub against each other, huge stresses can cause portions of the rock to break, resulting in earthquakes.
Why are divergent plate boundaries constructive?
At a constructive plate boundary – also known as a divergent plate boundary – the plates are moving apart from one another. When this happens, the magma from the mantle rises up to make (or construct) a new crust. The movement of the plates over the mantle can cause earthquakes.