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Relief map with the East Pacific Rise (shown in light blue), extending south from the Gulf of California. The East Pacific Rise (EPR) is a mid-ocean rise (usually termed an oceanic rise and not a mid-ocean ridge due to its higher rate of spreading that results in less elevation increase and more regular terrain), at a divergent tectonic plate boundary, located along the floor of the Pacific Ocean.
The East Pacific Rise near Easter Island is the fastest spreading mid-ocean ridge, with a spreading rate of over 15 cm/yr. [2] The Pacific plate moves generally towards the northwest at between 7 and 11 cm/yr while the Juan De Fuca plate has an east-northeasterly movement of some 4 cm/yr. [3]
The Pacific is also home to one of the world's most active spreading centers (the East Pacific Rise) with spreading rates of up to 145 ± 4 mm/yr between the Pacific and Nazca plates. [20] The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a slow-spreading center, while the East Pacific Rise is an example of fast spreading.
The depth of the seafloor on the flanks of a mid-ocean ridge is determined mainly by the age of the oceanic lithosphere; older seafloor is deeper.During seafloor spreading, lithosphere and mantle cooling, contraction, and isostatic adjustment with age cause seafloor deepening.
The Galápagos spreading centre (GSC) consists of two main sections, linked by the Galápagos Transform (GT). The western section extends from the propagating tip of the GSC (about 30 km east of the East Pacific Rise) for about 1200 km (750 miles) to the northern end of the transform.
The Juan de Fuca Ridge is a mid-ocean spreading center and divergent plate boundary located off the coast of the Pacific Northwest region of North America, named after Juan de Fuca. The ridge separates the Pacific Plate to the west and the Juan de Fuca Plate to the east. It runs generally northward, with a length of approximately 500 kilometres ...
What results are two spreading centers overlapping, apparently pushing against each other, which would violate one of the rules of plate tectonics: plates are rigid. This paradox is solved by the fact that the overlapping spreading centers are non-steady-state and propagate along the ridge; as one segment lengthens, the neighboring segment ...
These are where two plates slide apart from each other. At zones of ocean-to-ocean rifting, divergent boundaries form by seafloor spreading, allowing for the formation of new ocean basin, e.g. the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and East Pacific Rise. As the ocean plate splits, the ridge forms at the spreading center, the ocean basin expands, and finally ...