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With this approach the five main ocean basins are still the North and South Atlantic, North and South Pacific and the Arctic Ocean, but with different boundaries between the basins. These boundaries show the lines of very little surface connectivity between the different regions which means that a particle on the ocean surface in a certain ...
Spreading rate is the rate at which an ocean basin widens due to seafloor spreading. (The rate at which new oceanic lithosphere is added to each tectonic plate on either side of a mid-ocean ridge is the spreading half-rate and is equal to half of the spreading rate). Spreading rates determine if the ridge is fast, intermediate, or slow.
The first discovered mid-ocean ridge was the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which is a spreading center that bisects the North and South Atlantic basins; hence the origin of the name 'mid-ocean ridge'. Most oceanic spreading centers are not in the middle of their hosting ocean basis but regardless, are traditionally called mid-ocean ridges.
The world's largest ocean gyres. Western boundary currents may themselves be divided into sub-tropical or low-latitude western boundary currents. Sub-tropical western boundary currents are warm, deep, narrow, and fast-flowing currents that form on the west side of ocean basins due to western intensification. They carry warm water from the ...
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.
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.
retreating subduction: caused by weak coupling between the lower and upper plate which leads to the opening of a back arc basin and the subduction zone being moved by slab rollback. stable subduction: caused by intermediate coupling between the lower and upper plate. The subduction zone generally stays in the same place and the subduction plate ...
The IBM trenches began to grow in length c., opening back-arc basins in the Philippine Sea. Between 30 and 17 Mya, the old age of the subducting Pacific Ocean floor (110-130 Ma) resulted in a very fast trench migration and new back-arc basins opening behind the trenches. [12]