divergent boundary.
Many rift valleys are part of “triple junctions,” a type of divergent boundary where three tectonic plates meet at about 120° angles. Two arms of the triple junction can split to form an entire ocean.
What type of plate boundary formed the East African Rift Valley?
divergent plate boundary
The East African Rift Valley (EAR) is a developing divergent plate boundary in East Africa. Here the eastern portion of Africa, the Somalian plate, is pulling away from the rest of the continent, that comprises the Nubian plate.
What type of boundary is the Rio Grande Rift valley?
divergent plate boundary forces
In the western part of the continent, divergent plate boundary forces are beginning to rip the continent apart, forming the Basin and Range Province and its adjacent eastern arm, known as the Rio Grande Rift.
What type of plate boundary causes a rift?
Rift valleys are formed by divergent boundaries that involve continental plates.
What plate is the Rio Grande rift on?
North American continental plate
The southwestern region of the United States is geologically fascinating. The Colorado Plateau, with a smorgasbord of awe-inspiring rock formations and geological features, rises dramatically from the Rio Grande rift. The rift is a large, sunken region in the middle of the North American continental plate.
What type of divergent boundary is the East African Rift?
Tectonic activity splits continental crust much in the same way it does along mid-ocean ridges. The East African Rift Valley is an example of a divergent boundary in an area of continental crust.
What is convergent boundary?
When two plates come together, it is known as a convergent boundary. The impact of the colliding plates can cause the edges of one or both plates to buckle up into a mountain ranges or one of the plates may bend down into a deep seafloor trench.
How was the Rio Grande Rift valley formed?
The rift formed when the earth’s crust stretched and thinned during westerly directed extension, starting about 36–37 million years ago. This has allowed hot mantle to move upward, creating volcanoes, hot springs, and mineral deposits, forming the topo- graphically low area along which the Rio Grande flows.
What formed the Rio Grande valley?
The Rio Grande Rift was formed by extension of Earth’s crust. Crustal thinning and normal faulting associated with the rifting process formed topographic depressions or “basins” that captured small creeks and streams, and gradually directed drainage along the rift axis.
What are divergent boundaries?
In plate tectonics, a divergent boundary or divergent plate boundary (also known as a constructive boundary or an extensional boundary) is a linear feature that exists between two tectonic plates that are moving away from each other.
How is the East African Rift valley formed?
Millions of years ago, the Arabian Peninsula was connected to Africa. Seafloor spreading caused the Arabian and African plates to rift apart. The Indian Ocean flooded the rift valley between the continents, creating the Red Sea. Today, Africa and Asia are connected by the triangle of the Sinai Peninsula.
What does divergent boundary cause?
When two plates are moving away from each other, we call this a divergent plate boundary. Along these boundaries, magma rises from deep within the Earth and erupts to form new crust on the lithosphere. Most divergent plate boundaries are underwater and form submarine mountain ranges called oceanic spreading ridges.
Where does convergent boundary occur?
Convergent boundaries occur between oceanic-oceanic lithosphere, oceanic-continental lithosphere, and continental-continental lithosphere.
Where is a divergent plate boundary located?
mid-ocean oceanic ridges
Divergent boundaries are spreading boundaries, where new oceanic crust is created to fill in the space as the plates move apart. Most divergent boundaries are located along mid-ocean oceanic ridges (although some are on land).
Is Rio on a fault line?
(Image credit: NASA.) The U.S. Southwest isn’t particularly known for its seismic activity, but the Rio Grande Rift, a series of faults and basins that runs from central Colorado south through New Mexico, is alive and stretching, new research shows.
What type of tectonic plate boundary created the Mid Atlantic Ridge?
divergent plate boundary
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) is known as a mid-ocean ridge, an underwater mountain system formed by plate tectonics. It is the result of a divergent plate boundary that runs from 87° N – about 333 km (207 mi) south of the North Pole – to 54 °S, just north of the coast of Antarctica.
What happens at convergent plate boundaries?
Convergent (Colliding): This occurs when plates move towards each other and collide. When a continental plate meets an oceanic plate, the thinner, denser, and more flexible oceanic plate sinks beneath the thicker, more rigid continental plate. This is called subduction.
Is transform boundary?
The third type of plate boundary is the transform fault, where plates slide past one another without the production or destruction of crust. Because rocks are cut and displaced by movement in opposite direction, rocks facing each other on two sides of the fault are typically of different type and age.
What type of boundary is the Eurasian Plate?
Typically, a convergent plate boundary—such as the one between the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate—forms towering mountain ranges, like the Himalaya, as Earth’s crust is crumpled and pushed upward. In some cases, however, a convergent plate boundary can result in one tectonic plate diving underneath another.
What is Continental Continental boundary?
Continent-Continent Convergence
Another type of convergent plate boundary is when two continental plates collide. Continental lithosphere is low in density and very thick. Continental lithosphere cannot subduct. So when two continental plates collide, they just smash together.
What does a transform boundary form?
Transform boundaries are where two of these plates are sliding alongside each other. This causes intense earthquakes, the formation of thin linear valleys, and split river beds. The most famous example of a transform boundary is the San Andreas Fault in California.
