What forms when a divergent boundary occurs on land?
What forms when a divergent boundary occurs on land?
When plate divergence occurs on land, the continental crust rifts, or splits. This effectively creates a new ocean basin as the pieces of the continent move apart. In continental rifting, magma rises beneath the continent, causing it to become thinner, break, and ultimately split apart.
What causes transform boundaries?
When two plates are moving away from each other, we call this a divergent plate boundary. This is known as a transform plate boundary. As the plates rub against each other, huge stresses can cause portions of the rock to break, resulting in earthquakes. Places where these breaks occur are called faults.
What is a transform boundary and how does it affect the land?
The grinding action between the plates at a transform plate boundary results in shallow earthquakes, large lateral displacement of rock, and a broad zone of crustal deformation. Perhaps nowhere on Earth is such a landscape more dramatically displayed than along the San Andreas Fault in western California.
Where are divergent boundaries located?
mid-ocean oceanic ridges
Where are most divergent boundaries found?
mid-ocean ridge system
What type of magma is found at divergent boundaries?
basaltic
How is magma generated at divergent boundaries?
At divergent boundaries magma forms because of decompression melting. Decompression melting also takes place within a mantle plume. The higher viscosity prevents gases from escaping from the magma, and so felsic magmas are more pressurized and more likely to erupt explosively.
Does subduction occur at divergent boundaries?
Divergent boundaries are areas where plates move away from each other, forming either mid-oceanic ridges or rift valleys. This causes the oceanic plate to buckle and usually results in a new mid-ocean ridge forming and turning the obduction into subduction.
What happens when magma 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.
Which area is where new crust is being created at a divergent plate boundary?
62 Cards in this Set
| The location where new crust is being created at a divergent plate boundary | Atlantic Ocean |
|---|---|
| The San Andreas Fault in California occurs at | a transform boundary |
| Earth’s surface is part of the | lithosphere |