What is at the center of a mid ocean ridge?

The vast majority of volcanic activity on the planet occurs along the mid-ocean ridge, and it is the place where the crust of the Earth is born. The material that erupts at spreading centers along the mid-ocean ridge is primarily basalt, the most common rock on Earth.

Where is the center of a mid-ocean ridge?

is the uppermost layer of Earth’s core. contains the Wadati-Benioff zone where submarine quakes originate. The center of a mid-ocean ridge is where: molten basalt subducts back into Earth.

What is at the center of a mid-ocean ridge quizlet?

Molten material from several kilometers beneath the ocean floor rises and erupts through the valleys that run along the center of mid-ocean ridges. As it cools, it forms a strip of solid rock in the center of the ridge.

What is the center of a ridge called?

The deep crack running down the center of an ocean ridge is called a tranch. New continental crust is formed at the mid ocean ridges. Seafloor spreading is a process that forms new oceanic crust.

What do you expect to find at a mid-ocean ridge quizlet?

an undersea mountain chain where new ocean floor is produced at a divergent plate boundary. a device that determains the distance of an object under water by recording echoes of sound waves.

What should you expect to find at a divergent plate boundary such as a mid-ocean ridge?

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.

What did scientists notice when they observed the mid-ocean ridge?

They discovered this by finding the age of rock samples obtained by drilling in the ocean floor. … Oceanic crust near the mid-ocean ridge is younger than the crust farther from the ridge.

What is a mid-oceanic ridge where is it formed give an example of one quizlet?

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is when the seafloor spreads and forms a mountain underwater. An example is the extension from south of Iceland to the extreme South Atlantic Ocean near 60° S latitude. It bisects the Atlantic Ocean basin, which led to the earlier designation of mid-ocean ridge for features of this type.

What is a mid-oceanic ridge where is it 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.

What is the oceanic ridge system quizlet?

Most mountain ranges form through the collisions of two continents, whereas oceanic ridges form when material upwells from the mantle and generates new oceanic crust.

What is the function of the mid-oceanic ridge quizlet?

Mid-ocean ridges are spreading centers, they are divergent plate boundaries where magma wells up from below, creating new oceanic crust. Ocean trenches form where crustal plates plunge back into the mantle.

What is the primary reason for the elevated portion of the oceanic ridge system?

The primary reason for the elevated position of the ridge system is that newly created oceanic lithosphere is hot and therefore less dense than cooler rocks of the deep-ocean basin.

Whats the definition of mid-ocean ridge?

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.

What happens as plates diverge at an oceanic ridge?

At divergent boundaries, the sea floor spreads apart on both sides of the mid-ocean ridges, and magma wells up from the mantle to add new crust to fill the gap. As a result, the ocean floor moves like a conveyor belt, carrying the continents along with it.

What happens at an oceanic ridge quizlet?

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.

What happens when two plates diverge at a mid-ocean ridge below sea level?

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 when oceanic and continental plates converge?

When an oceanic and a continental plate collide, eventually the oceanic plate is subducted under the continental plate due to the high density of the oceanic plate. Once again a benioff zone forms where there are shallow intermediate and deep focus earthquakes.

What features are formed at oceanic to oceanic convergent boundaries?

The features of an ocean-ocean subduction zone are the same as those of an ocean-continent subduction zone, except that the volcanic arc will be a set of islands known as an island arc. The older plate subducts into a trench, resulting in earthquakes. Melting of mantle material creates volcanoes at the subduction zone.

What features are formed at oceanic to continental convergent boundaries?

Deep ocean trenches, volcanoes, island arcs, submarine mountain ranges, and fault lines are examples of features that can form along plate tectonic boundaries. Volcanoes are one kind of feature that forms along convergent plate boundaries, where two tectonic plates collide and one moves beneath the other.

What happens at plate boundaries between oceanic and continental plates How does this relate to the age of oceanic crust?

When an oceanic plate converges with a continental plate, the oceanic crust will always subduct under the continental crust; this is because oceanic crust is naturally denser. Convergent boundaries are commonly associated with larger earthquakes and higher volcanic activity.