divergent+boundries

 __Divergent__      __Boundarie __       __s__     According to wikipedia, a divergent boundary is: "In plate tectonics, a divergent boundary or divergent plate boundary is a linear feature that exists between two tectonic plates that are moving away from each other." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divergent_boundary) 

(http://iceland.ednet.ns.ca/kbahdr.htm) 

Divergent boundaries occur along spreading centers where plates are moving apart and new crust is created by magma pushing up from the mantle. Picture two giant conveyor belts, facing each other but slowly moving in opposite directions as they transport newly formed oceanic crust away from the ridge crest. <span style="COLOR: #4ee830; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #0a0505"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <span style="COLOR: #27ff00; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #000000"> Perhaps the best known of the divergent boundaries is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This submerged mountain range, which extends from the Arctic Ocean to beyond the southern tip of Africa, is but one segment of the global mid-ocean ridge system that encircles the Earth. The rate of spreading along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge averages about 2.5 centimeters per year (cm/yr), or 25 km in a million years. This rate may seem slow by human standards, but because this process has been going on for millions of years, it has resulted in plate movement of thousands of kilometers. Seafloor spreading over the past 100 to 200 million years has caused the Atlantic Ocean to grow from a tiny inlet of water between the continents of Europe, Africa, and the Americas into the vast ocean that exists today. (http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/understanding.html)

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Mid Atlantic Ridge =====

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<span style="FONT-SIZE: 200%; COLOR: #7fdd22; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #0b0a0a"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #20211c">Plate Boundaries: =====

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<span style="FONT-SIZE: 200%; COLOR: #7fdd22; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #0b0a0a"> <span style="COLOR: #6ada49; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #bdf0fa"> <span style="COLOR: #c122dd; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace"> <span style="COLOR: #2ac02f; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a5faa3"><span style="COLOR: #ff00b3; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 120%; COLOR: #bf81df; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #0d0c0e">There are 3 primary types of Tectonic Plate boundaries: Divergent boundaries; Covergent boundaries; and Transform boundaries. As the giant plates move, diverging [pulling apart] or converging [coming together] along their borders, tremendous energies are unleashed resulting in tremors that transform Earth’s surface. While all the plates appear to be moving at different relative speeds and independently of each other, the whole jigsaw puzzle of plates is interconnected. No single plate can move without affecting others, and the activity of one can influence another thousands of miles away. For example, as the Atlantic Ocean grows wider with the spreading of the African Plate away from the South American Plate, the Pacific sea floor is being consumed in deep subduction trenches over ten thousand miles away. ([]        =====

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<span style="COLOR: #6ada49; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #bdf0fa"><span style="COLOR: #c122dd; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace"> <span style="COLOR: #2ac02f; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a5faa3"><span style="COLOR: #ff00b3; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive">      <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Black', Gadget, sans-serif; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #f8f7f7">  <span style="FONT-SIZE: 120%; COLOR: #37ee2f; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #120d0d">click for the ANIMATION--><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">  <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">http://geology.com/nsta/divergent-boundary-continental.gif     <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">        =====

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<span style="COLOR: #2ac02f; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a5faa3"> <span style="COLOR: #30e51f; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #030202">Divergent Boundaries- Continental    =====

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<span style="COLOR: #2ac02f; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #a5faa3">   <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">click for the ANIMATION---> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">http://geology.com/nsta/divergent-boundary-oceanic.gif      <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">   =====

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<span style="COLOR: #0fbd8c; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"> Divergent Boundaries- Oceanic    =====

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<span style="COLOR: #0fbd8c; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 120%; COLOR: #e51f1f; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #20211c">Divergent boundaries -- where new crust is generated as the plates pull away from each other. =====

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<span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">Divergent plate boundaries are, of course, three-dimensional. Because Earth is an sphere, lithospheric plates are not flat, but are curved and fractured into curved sections like the peeled sections of an orange. Divergent movement of lithospheric plates can best be pictured like the movement apart of those peeled sections over a curved surface (e.g., over a ball). (http://www.enotes.com/earth-science/divergent-plate-boundary)  =====

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<span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/understanding.html <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">http://geology.com/nsta/divergent-plate-boundaries.shtml <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">http://iceland.ednet.ns.ca/kbahdr.htm