What is the average rate of spreading along the Mid Atlantic ridges every year?
about 2.5 centimeters per year
The rate of spreading along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge averages about 2.5 centimeters per year (cm/yr), or 25 km in a million years. This rate may seem slow by human standards, but because this process has been going on for millions of years, it has resulted in plate movement of thousands of kilometers.
How fast is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge growing?
about 2.5 cm per year
The MAR separates the North American Plate from the Eurasian Plate in the North Atlantic, and the South American Plate from the African Plate in the South Atlantic. These plates are still moving apart, so the Atlantic is growing at the ridge, at a rate of about 2.5 cm per year in an east-west direction.
Is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge slow or fast spreading?
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is located at the juncture of crustal plates that form the floor of the Atlantic Ocean; it is considered a “slow-spreading” ridge by earth scientists. Running along the crest of the ridge is a long valley that is about 50 to 75 miles (80 to 120 km) wide.
Is the East Pacific Rise spreading faster than the Mid-Atlantic Ridge?
The East Pacific Rise is spreading faster than the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The wide swath of red and orange parallel to the East Pacific Rise illustrates that a large area of oceanic rocks are very young.
What is the approximate rate of sea floor spreading in the South Atlantic?
What is the average rate of seafloor spreading in the South Atlantic ocean? These age data also allow the rate of seafloor spreading to be determined, and they show that rates vary from about 0.1 cm (0.04 inch) per year to 17 cm (6.7 inches) per year.
What are 5 facts about the Mid-Atlantic Ridge?
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is the longest mountain chain on Earth. It runs along the Atlantic Ocean floor from North America to beyond the southern tip of Africa. It rises 6,000–13,000ft (2,000–4,000m) above the sea floor, and runs for 10,000 miles (16,000km). Beneath the ridge is a place of great volcanic activity.
How fast is the Atlantic Ocean spreading?
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge runs down the center of the Atlantic Ocean, slowly spreading at a rate of 2 to 5 centimeters (0.8 to 2 inches) per year and forming a rift valley that is about the depth and width of the Grand Canyon.
What is the spreading rate cm Year of the fastest mid-oceanic ridge?
1 cm to 20 cm per year
Thus the mid-ocean ridge is also known as a “spreading center” or a “divergent plate boundary.” The plates spread apart at rates of 1 cm to 20 cm per year.
When mid-ocean ridge spreading rates are fast?
The speed of spreading affects the shape of a ridge – slower spreading rates result in steep, irregular topography while faster spreading rates produce much wider profiles and more gentle slopes. Two well-studied mid-ocean ridges within the global system are the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the East Pacific Rise.
Do mid-ocean ridges spread faster than mid-ocean rises?
Two of the most carefully studied mid-ocean ridges are the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the East Pacific Rise (called a rise because it has more gentle slopes). In contrast, the East Pacific Rise spreads fast at rates of 6 to 16 cm per year (more than 20 cm per year in the past).
What is the fastest spreading ridge?
The fastest present-day seafloor spreading, ~150 km/Myr, occurs along the Pacific-Nazca boundary between the Easter and Juan Fernandez microplates.
Where are spreading rates faster in the Pacific or the Atlantic?
Seafloor-spreading rates are much more rapid in the Pacific Ocean than in the Atlantic and Indian oceans. At spreading rates of about 15 cm (6 inches) per year, the entire crust beneath the Pacific Ocean (about 15,000 km [9,300 miles] wide) could be produced in 100 million years.