How is a mid ocean ridge formed?

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.

How are mid-ocean ridges formed for kids?

The mid-ocean ridge is formed where two tectonic plates meet under the ocean. This divergent boundary creates mountains, valleys like the famous rift valley, volcanoes, and sometimes earthquakes.

What is a mid-ocean ridge simple definition?

Definition of mid-ocean ridge

: an elevated region with a central valley on an ocean floor at the boundary between two diverging tectonic plates where new crust forms from upwelling magma.

How ridges are formed?

A mid-ocean ridge or mid-oceanic ridge is an underwater mountain range, formed by plate tectonics. This uplifting of the ocean floor occurs when convection currents rise in the mantle beneath the oceanic crust and create magma where two tectonic plates meet at a divergent boundary.

How do mid-ocean ridges and deep ocean trenches form?

Trenches are formed by subduction, a geophysical process in which two or more of Earth’s tectonic plates converge and the older, denser plate is pushed beneath the lighter plate and deep into the mantle, causing the seafloor and outermost crust (the lithosphere) to bend and form a steep, V-shaped depression.

Where do mid-ocean ridges and ocean trenches form?

Mid-ocean ridges are areas of rifting where two tectonic plates are diverging from one another. Magma rises up through the rifts and forms mountain ranges. Deep-ocean trenches are formed at convergent plate boundaries where the more dense plate (usually the oceanic) subducts under the less dense (usually continental).

How are trenches formed in the ocean?

In particular, ocean trenches are a feature of convergent plate boundaries, where two or more tectonic plates meet. At many convergent plate boundaries, dense lithosphere melts or slides beneath less-dense lithosphere in a process called subduction, creating a trench.

How are mid-ocean ridges and trenches the same?

1 Answer. A mid ocean ridge is a divergent boundary where plates are moving apart, An ocean trench is a convergent boundary where plates are moving together.

Is mid-ocean ridge and ocean ridge the same?

The mid-ocean ridges of the world are connected and form the Ocean Ridge, a single global mid-oceanic ridge system that is part of every ocean, making it the longest mountain range in the world.

What is the difference between mountain ranges and mid-ocean ridge?

Explanation: Mid-ocean ridges are areas of rifting where two tectonic plates are diverging from one another. Magma rises up through the rifts and forms mountain ranges. The largest is located in the middle of the Atlantic.

What is the difference between mid-ocean ridges and subduction zones?

(2) How is the shape of volcanoes at mid-ocean ridges different from the shape of volcanoes at subduction zones? Mid-ocean ridge volcanoes tend to be linear and look like long, low ridges, while volca- noes at subduction zones tend to be cone- shaped and isolated.

Are mid-ocean ridges convergent?

The mid-ocean ridge system is an example of a divergent (rather than a convergent or transform) plate boundary. The mid-ocean ridge system has been understood only since the development and acceptance of plate tectonic theory in the 1960s.

What is the difference between volcanoes formed over hotspots and mid-ocean ridge?

A hot spot is an upwelling of magma from far beneath the Earth’s crust, caused by a disturbance at the boundary between the solid mantle and the liquid outer core of Earth’s interior. Hot spots are, compared to mid-ocean ridges or subduction zones, relatively small and isolated features.

What causes plates to move apart at mid-ocean ridges?

Mid-Ocean Ridges and Rift Valleys

When molten material rises from the asthenosphere, cold ocean water cools the rock until it becomes solid. As the plates move apart, new cracks open in the solid rock. More molten material rises and hardens. The growing ridge stands high above the sea floor.

What is formed after the plates has moved?

When the plates move they collide or spread apart allowing the very hot molten material called lava to escape from the mantle. When collisions occur they produce mountains, deep underwater valleys called trenches, and volcanoes.

What causes the plates to move?

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.

What type of tectonic plate boundary created the Mid-Atlantic Ridge?

divergent plate boundaries

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is an example of divergent plate boundaries. When two plates come together, it is known as a convergent boundary. The impact of the colliding plates can cause the edges of one or both plates to buckle up into a mountain ranges or one of the plates may bend down into a deep seafloor trench.

How was the Mid-Atlantic Ridge formed quizlet?

How was the Mid-Atlantic Ridge formed quizlet? The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a convection current is a transfer of heat in a liquid or gas that causes the molten magma to rise up through the mantle and into the crust, forming an oceanic ridge. that is off the east coast of North and South America.

What is the mid Atlantic Ocean ridge?

Mid-Atlantic Ridge, submarine ridge lying along the north-south axis of the Atlantic Ocean; it occupies the central part of the basin between a series of flat abyssal plains that continue to the margins of the continental coasts.

How did convection currents create the Mid-Atlantic Ridge?

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a divergent plate boundary line. The features at the ridge are the result of convection currents within Earth dragging the North American and Eurasian Plates apart from each other. New oceanic crust is created along the boundary by rising and solidifying magma.

How is magma generated at mid-ocean ridges?

Mid-Ocean Ridge Volcanism

At divergent plate boundaries, magma is generated by decompression melting of upwelling mantle. Melts are focused as they ascend through the upper mantle and lower crust and collect beneath the ridge axis in elongate melt lenses.

How does process of convection affect the formation of mountains?

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.

Why do geologists study the Mid-Atlantic Ridge?

Much like the “Pacific Ring of Fire“, the discovery of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge has helped inform our modern understanding of the world. Similar to convergent boundaries, subduction zones and other geological forces, the process that created it is also responsible for the world as we know it today.

What happens in the mid Atlantic ocean?

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge includes a deep rift valley that runs along the axis of the ridge along nearly its entire length. This rift marks the actual boundary between adjacent tectonic plates, where magma from the mantle reaches the seafloor, erupting as lava and producing new crustal material for the plates.