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The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a mid-ocean ridge (a divergent or constructive plate boundary) located along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, and part of the longest mountain range in the world. In the North Atlantic, the ridge separates the North American from the Eurasian plate and the African plate , north and south of the Azores triple junction .
It is the product of the complex interaction between the African, Eurasian, and Iberian plates. [1] The AGFZ produced these large-magnitude earthquakes and, consequently, a number of large tsunamis: 1755 Lisbon, 1761 Lisbon, 1816 North Atlantic, 1941 Gloria Fault earthquake, 1969 Horseshoe and 1975. [2]
Volcanic in origin, the Azores lie in a tectonically complex area on either side of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, between the European, American and African plate boundaries, forming their own microplate. [3] The 1980 earthquake was the result of movement along a northwest to southeast trending strike-slip fault. [3]
A paper written by geophysicist Taras Gerya theorizes that the creation of the transform faults between the ridges of the mid-oceanic ridge is attributed to rotated and stretched sections of the mid-oceanic ridge. [7] This occurs over a long period of time with the spreading center or ridge slowly deforming from a straight line to a curved line.
Plate tectonics map. The East African Rift (Great Rift Valley) in eastern Africa; The Mid-Atlantic Ridge system separates the North American plate and the South American plate in the west from the African plate and the Eurasian plate in the east; The Gakkel Ridge is a slow spreading ridge located in the Arctic Ocean
The transform fault of the southern fracture zone displaces the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, coming from the Azores triple junction, to the west over a distance of 120 km (75 mi). At longitude 31.75W a south to north seismically active rift valley with a length of 40 km (25 mi) connects the western end of the southern transform to the eastern end of the ...
In this model, pre-existing faults that were formed during ancient geological episodes persist in the intraplate crust, and earthquakes occur when the present-day stress is released along these zones of weakness. The stress that causes the earthquakes is generally considered to be derived from present-day rifting at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
Silfra fissure The Mid-Atlantic Ridge passing through Þingvellir Rocks and boulders that have piled up in the fissure due to earthquakes.. Silfra (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈsɪl(v)ra]) is a rift formed in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge – the divergent tectonic boundary between the North American and Eurasian plates – and is located in the Þingvallavatn Lake in the Þingvellir National Park in ...