A rift valley is a lowland region that forms where Earth’s tectonic plates move apart, or rift. 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.
What is a seafloor rift?
Noun. rift in underwater mountain range where new oceanic crust is formed .
What is a rift and how is it different from a mid ocean ridge?
If the boundary is found between two continental plates you are left with a rift valley. ... If two oceanic plates begin moving away from each other it creates a mid-oceanic ridge. Continental plates are less dense, and thus float much higher on the mantle.
What are rifts and ridges?
Active ridges are located above rising thermal currents in the asthenosphere. Divergent plate boundaries can occur within continental lithosphere, where they are know as continental rifts, the centers along which continents break apart, sometimes to spawn new ocean basins.
How do rifts form?
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 . ... Tectonic plates are huge, rocky slabs of Earth’s lithosphere—its crust and upper mantle.
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.
Why rift valley has steep sides?
c) Rift valleys have steep sides because they are formed when the earth crust is divided , they are not like those valley which are formed by soil erosion.
What is a divergent rift?
Divergent boundaries within continents initially produce rifts , which eventually become rift valleys. ... This supplies the area with vast amounts of heat and a reduction in pressure that melts rock from the asthenosphere
How are continental rifts and oceanic ridges similar?
Continental rift zones occur in weak spots in the continental lithospheric plate. A mid-ocean ridge usually originates in a continental plate as a rift zone that expands to the point of splitting the plate apart, with seawater filling in the gap.
What are common in rift valleys and oceanic ridges?
Answer: The common among the pictures is the formation of divergent plate boundary , where it forms the rift valleys and oceanic ridges.
What causes rifting?
Rifting can be caused when hot material from a mantle plume reaches the base of a continental plate and causes the overlying lithosphere to heat up . In addition to this the uwards movement of the plume against the base of the plate results in extensional forces, which can cause rifting.
What is the difference between a rift and a fault?
is that rift is a chasm or fissure while fault is a defect; something that detracts from perfection.
What is the largest rift valley in the world?
The largest and deepest rift valley yet discovered is not on Earth—it’s on Mars. Valles Marineris was formed millions of years ago, when the rocky Martian lithosphere was still rifting and shifting. Valles Marineris reaches depths of up to 7 kilometers (4 miles) and spans about 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) long.
What is the slowest spreading ocean?
The Gakkel Mid-Ocean Ridge (MOR) is the slowest spreading center on the planet with full-spreading rates between 1.33 cm/yr along the Greenland end to 0.63 cm/yr along the Siberian end.
Which ocean has the fastest spreading rate?
The fastest present-day seafloor spreading, ~150 km/Myr, occurs along the Pacific-Nazca boundary between the Easter and Juan Fernandez microplates.
Where is active seafloor spreading occurring today?
Where is active sea floor spreading occurring today? Seafloor spreading is the movement of old rock that is being pushed by the new young oceanic crust. This would be a divergent since the plates are separating from each other. Active seafloor spreading is occurring at mid-ocean ridges .
