DIVERGENT BOUNDARY
by Allison F.
A Divergent Boundary is the place where the creation of Oceanic crust is made by a volcano. This boundary is where two plates move apart. Each plate is going the opposite direction of the other which causes molten rock and magma to come out from the asthenosphere, causing "underwater mountain ranges." As the magma cools down, it forms oceanic crust and lithosphere. The lithosphere is light, so it rises higher above older lithosphere, making mountain chains known as mid-ocean ridges. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is an underwater mountain range made at a divergent plate boundary in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of ridges made by "seafloor spreading." The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is spreading at 2.5 cm a year. The mid-ocean ridges today are 60,000 km long. It is the largest mountain chain on earth.
these pictures came from http://147.205.15.81/geology/work/VFT-so-far/orogeny/diverge.html
