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Continental-continental divergent/constructive boundary Oceanic divergent boundary: mid-ocean ridge (cross-section/cut-away view). 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.
The Midcontinent Rift System (MRS) or Keweenawan Rift is a 2,000 km (1,200 mi) long geological rift in the center of the North American continent and south-central part of the North American plate. It formed when the continent's core, the North American craton , began to split apart during the Mesoproterozoic era of the Precambrian , about 1.1 ...
The Wilson cycle theory is based upon the idea of an ongoing cycle of ocean closure, continental collision, and a formation of new ocean on the former suture zone.The Wilson Cycle can be described in six phases of tectonic plate motion: the separation of a continent (continental rift), formation of a young ocean at the seafloor, formation of ocean basins during continental drift, initiation of ...
Fundy Basin – Sediment-filled rift basin on the Atlantic coast of southeastern Canada; Gulf of Suez Rift – Continental rift zone that was active between the Late Oligocene and the end of the Miocene; Gulf St Vincent – South Australian southern coast water inlet bordered by the Yorke and Fleurieu Peninsulas
Continental rifting forms new ocean basins. Eventually the continental rift forms a mid-ocean ridge and the locus of extension moves away from the continent-ocean boundary. The transition between the continental and oceanic lithosphere that was originally formed by rifting is known as a passive margin.
Typical rift features are a central linear downfaulted depression, called a graben, or more commonly a half-graben with normal faulting and rift-flank uplifts mainly on one side. [4] Where rifts remain above sea level they form a rift valley, which may be filled by water forming a rift lake.
A massive rift in Ethiopia separated continental plates by 400 feet and is part of a rift network that may flood enough to create a new ocean in 2 million years.
The Rio Grande rift is a north-trending continental rift zone. It separates the Colorado Plateau in the west from the interior of the North American craton on the east. [ 1 ] The rift extends from central Colorado in the north to the state of Chihuahua , Mexico , in the south. [ 2 ]