It rises from
approximately 6,000 to 9,000 feet (1,800 to 2,700 metres)
above the surrounding seafloor and is extensively fractured by faults mostly occurring at intervals of roughly 200 miles (320 km).
Where does the East Pacific Rise start and end?
It runs
south from the Gulf of California in the Salton Sea basin in Southern California to a point near 55° S, 130° W
, where it joins the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge trending west-southwest towards Antarctica, near New Zealand (though in some uses the PAR is regarded as the southern section of the EPR).
How long is the East Pacific Rise?
This would bring the total length to
about 10,000 miles
, almost half way around the world.
How fast is the East Pacific Rise?
The East Pacific Rise, on the other hand, is a fast spreading center. It
spreads about 6-16 centimeters (3-6 inches) every year
. There is not an ocean trench at the East Pacific Rise, because the seafloor spreading is too rapid for one to develop!
Why does the East Pacific Rise spread fast?
The magma cools and forms a dense rock called a diabase. … Faster spreading ridges like the northern and southern East Pacific Rise are “hotter,” meaning
more magma is present beneath the ridge axis and more volcanic eruptions occur
.
What is happening at the East Pacific Rise?
Along much of this mountain range, lava wells up from below, causing the Earth’s crust to split apart, and forming what geologists call “spreading centers.” … The resulting
underwater volcanoes spread lava across large areas of seafloor
and form the core of the East Pacific Rise.
Which ocean is growing the fastest?
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.
Which mid-ocean ridge is spreading the slowest?
The Ridge
is named after him, and the name was recognized in April 1987 by SCUFN (under that body’s old name, the Sub-Committee on Geographical Names and Nomenclature of Ocean Bottom Features). The ridge is the slowest known spreading ridge on earth, with a rate of less than one centimeter per year.
Where is the fastest seafloor spreading?
Some of our recent research involves hydrothermal and structural investigations along Earth’s fastest seafloor spreading center, the 28°S–32°S East Pacific Rise. The fastest present-day seafloor spreading, ~150 km/Myr, occurs
along the Pacific-Nazca boundary between the Easter and Juan Fernandez microplates.
Is the East Pacific Rise a subduction zone?
The mid-ocean ridges are tectonic plate boundaries where new ocean crust forms. … The islands are a manifestation of intersecting plate boundaries—the spreading center of the East Pacific Rise, which traces south from the Gulf of California, and the
subduction zone
that consumes the Cocos plate beneath southern Mexico.
Which side of the Pacific has the oldest crust and why?
The oldest oceanic crust in the Pacific Ocean is located
east of the Japanese coast
, within a deep submarine trench known as the Japan Trench. It used to be known as the deepest point in the world, before the discovery of the Mariana Trench in 1875.
Which side of the East Pacific Rise is spreading faster?
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 direction is the Pacific plate moving?
The Pacific Plate is moving to
the northwest
at a speed of between 7 and 11 centimeters (cm) or ~3-4 inches a year. The North American plate is moving to the west-southwest at about 2.3 cm (~1 inch) per year driven by the spreading center that created the Atlantic Ocean, the Mid Atlantic Ridge.
Does the East Pacific Rise just end at the continent?
It is one of the largest physical structures on earth. It runs in a sickle-shaped curve from near New Zealand 8,000 miles to the coast of Mexico. There its crest disappears from the maps, unless, as some scientists now think,
it underlies the western part of the North American continent
.
Why does the East Pacific Rise lack a Rift Valley?
Why does the East Pacific Rise lack a rift valley?
The rate of seafloor spreading at the East Pacific Rise is very fast
.
How can you differentiate slow spreading ridges and fast spreading ridges?
Fast-spreading mid-ocean ridges have an axial high (the “rise crest”) whereas slow-spreading ridges have deep axial rift valleys. This difference in morphology is
reflected in the ruggedness of the flanks of ridges
.
