What happens when plates diverge on land?

What happens when plates diverge on land?

When two continental plates diverge, a valleylike rift develops. This rift is a dropped zone where the plates are pulling apart. As the crust widens and thins, valleys form in and around the area, as do volcanoes, which may become increasingly active.

What will happen if divergent boundary continues?

Continents split apart at divergent boundaries. Like the sea floor, continents also spread apart at a divergent boundary. If the rift valley continues to widen, the thinned valley floor sinks lower and lower until it is below sea level. Water from nearby oceans or rivers may fill the valley and form a sea or a lake.

What landforms can be 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 happens to the mantle at a divergent plate boundary?

plates move apart at a divergent plate boundary, the release of pressure produces partial melting of the underlying mantle. This molten material, known as magma, is basaltic in composition and is buoyant. As a result, it wells up from below and cools close to the surface to generate new crust.…

What happens when plates diverge or move away from each other?

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. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is an example of divergent plate boundaries.

What does divergent boundary create?

Why does the divergence of plates lead to a ridge?

When a divergent boundary occurs beneath oceanic lithosphere, the rising convection current below lifts the lithosphere, producing a mid-ocean ridge. Extensional forces stretch the lithosphere and produce a deep fissure. When the fissure opens, pressure is reduced on the super-heated mantle material below.

What happens to the magma that rises from a divergent boundary?

Decompression melting often occurs at divergent boundaries, where tectonic plates separate. The rifting movement causes the buoyant magma below to rise and fill the space of lower pressure. The rock then cools into new crust. This process transfers heat and creates magma.

What happens at divergent plate boundaries resulting in the melting of rocks?

At divergent plate boundaries hot mantle rock rises into the space where the plates are moving apart. The rock is under lower pressure; this lowers the melting temperature of the rock and so it melts.

What are some examples of divergent plates?

Some divergent plate boundary examples are the East Pacific rise (a fast spreading zone), the Mid-Atlantic ridge (a slow spreading zone), the Rift Valley of Africa. There are many others.

How do plates move at divergent plate boundaries?

Divergent plate boundaries are locations where plates are moving away from one another. This occurs above rising convection currents. The rising current pushes up on the bottom of the lithosphere , lifting it and flowing laterally beneath it.

What are real world examples of divergent plate boundaries?

Examples of divergent boundaries are the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Great Rift Valley. Iceland is an example of a country undergoing a continental divergent boundary. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge divides Iceland and is the boundary between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates.

Where on Earth would you find divergent plates?

Divergent plate boundaries are usually found at mid-ocean ridges, such as those in the Gulf of California and in the mid-Atlantic Ridge. There is also a divergent boundary in the East African rift zone and one in the Dead Sea rift valley, on land.