Sea Floor Spreading Rift Valley

A rift valley is formed on a divergent plate boundary a crustal extension or spreading apart of the surface which is subsequently further deepened by the forces of erosion.

Sea floor spreading rift valley.

This idea played a pivotal role in the development of the theory of plate tectonics which revolutionized geologic thought during the last quarter of the 20th century. The theory is that the rift valleys will create new oceans so the detection of spreading in the rift valley provided evidence of seafloor spreading. The most extensive rift valley is located along the crest of the mid ocean ridge system and is the result of sea floor spreading examples of this type of rift include the mid atlantic ridge and the east pacific rise. Seafloor spreading at the north end of the system created the red sea separating the arabian peninsula on the arabian plate from the african continent on the nubian african plate and will eventually connect the red sea and the mediterranean sea.

Seafloor spreading and rift valleys are common features at triple junctions triple junctions are the intersection of three divergent plate boundaries. A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift or fault. This divergence is also referred to as sea floor spreading. Divergence can also cause earthquakes and if it occurs near the continental crust a rift valley will be created through faulting.

The process begins when the crust is heated from beneath by upwelling in the mantle sometimes called a mantle plume. The great rift valley is a series of connected rift valleys. This creates a three armed rift called a triple junction usually with each rift at a. The triple junction is the central point where three cracks boundaries split off at about 120 angles from each other.

As the rift valley spread the tension rods increased the length allowing the detection of the earth s spreading. Seafloor spreading is a constant geologic phenomenon and a primary driver of continental drift. Tension rods were placed in the cracks created by the rift valley. Share in plate tectonics a divergent boundary or divergent plate boundary also known as a constructive boundary or an extensional boundary is a linear feature that.

A rift valley is a lowland region that forms where earth s tectonic plates move apart or rift rift valleys are found both on land and at the bottom of the ocean where they are created by the process of seafloor spreading rift valleys differ from river valleys and glacial valleys in that they are created by tectonic activity and not the process of erosion.