Definition For Rift Ocean Floor

This graphic shows several ocean floor features on a scale from 0 35 000 feet below sea level.

Definition for rift ocean floor.

On the continents rift valleys form in divergence zones of tectonic plates. The most popular mechanism for this outward movement is sliding along the volcano ocean floor interface which consists of easily deformable sediments e g. In the south atlantic it separates the. Continental shelf 300 feet continental slope 300 10 000 feet abyssal plain 10 000 feet abyssal hill 3 000 feet up from the abyssal plain seamount 6 000 feet.

Where such a zone crosses a mid ocean ridge it displaces the ridge by faulting. Mid ocean ridge definition is an elevated region with a central valley on an ocean floor at the boundary between two diverging tectonic plates where new crust forms from upwelling magma. The mid atlantic ridge mar is a mid ocean ridge a divergent or constructive plate boundary located along the floor of the atlantic ocean and part of the longest mountain range in the world in the north atlantic it separates the north american from the eurasian plate and the african plate north and south of the azores triple junction respectively. A long narrow valley lying between two normal geologic faults.

The center of these mid ocean ridges are rift valleys that separate lie between the two separating plates. The global mid ocean ridges are found in all the oceans on earth. Rift valleys occur on the continents as well as on the ocean floor where they arise from seafloor separation. Rift valley definition graben.

Rift valleys usually form where the earth s lithosphere has become thin through extension associated with plate tectonic processes. 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. Earth s most extensive rift valley occurs as a result of seafloor spreading and is situated along the mid ocean ridge system s crest. The following features are shown at example depths to scale though each feature has a considerable range at which it may occur.

As the plates move apart magma from the upper mantle flows out onto the ocean floor in the valleys creating the newest crust on the planet.