Hot-spots occur in the middle of plates, often thousands of kilometres away from the boundaries of the plates. The main thing to keep in mind is that divergent boundaries occur at the boundaries of plates. A divergent boundary occurs when two tectonic plates move away from each other. A nice feature is that the Hawaiian island chain lies in a north-westerly line that matches the direction the Pacific plate is moving. They create earthquakes in different ways. The islands of Hawaii lie thousands of kilometres away from the boundaries of the Pacific plate on which they sit. There are two primary types of divergent boundaries spreading ridges in the oceans, and rift valleys on land. Hot-spots are responsible for island-chains, such as those seen in Hawaii, which form as the plate slides over the plume or even volcanoes on land, like Yellowstone. A hot-spot is where a plate is moving over a stationary mantle plume. 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. Hot-spots, or mid-plate tectonic activity, occur away from boundaries between plates. As the oceanic plates move apart they produce cracks in the ocean floor. Eventually the rift valley will flood, producing a ocean between the newly split plates with the East African Rift becoming a mid-ocean ridge. Divergent boundaries in the middle of the oceans cause seafloor spreading. For example, the East African Rift Valley (a divergent boundary), is pushing apart the African plate, separating Somalia from the continent. Divergent boundaries create rift valleys on land and eventually ridges on ocean floors, where hotter material wells up from the mantle, cools and form new crust. A divergent boundary is where two tectonic plates are actively being pushed apart. The current rate of spreading is about 2.5 cm/year, showing general consistency with the overall distance and measured time.Divergent boundaries occur at the boundary between plates. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge lies between the North American and Eurasion Plate in the North. A theoretical framework of scattering problems is established for two-body systems. This illustration is from Wikipedia and may be freely used. This gives an average velocity of separation of about 3.1 cm/yr with relative rates scaled from 2.8 to 4.4 cm/yr. A good example of a divergent boundary is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. A major example of a divergent boundary is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The extent of separation associated with the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is about 5600 km and the extreme separation exhibits an age of about 180 million years. The pull-apart happens when a divergent boundary forms. It is a portion of an image from the USGS site and a part of their discussion of plate motions. The divergent continental boundary form when a divergent boundary forms beneath a continental plate. It is available in higher resolution from This is another depiction of the Mid-Atlantic-Ridge. Movement of Plate Boundaries Divergent BoundariesĪt divergent boundaries where tectonic plates move apart, there will be upwelling material from the mantle to create new seafloor.Ī major example of a divergent boundary is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. plates move apart at a divergent plate boundary, the release of pressure produces partial melting of the underlying mantle. What is a divergent boundary Divergent boundaries occur along spreading centers where plates are moving apart and new crust is created by magma pushing up from the mantle.
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