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Mid-ocean ridge cross-section (cut-away view) A mid-ocean ridge (MOR) is a seafloor mountain system formed by plate tectonics.It typically has a depth of about 2,600 meters (8,500 ft) and rises about 2,000 meters (6,600 ft) above the deepest portion of an ocean basin.
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 .
If originated from current tectonic forces, they are often referred to as a mid-ocean ridge. In contrast, if formed by past above-water volcanism, they are known as a seamount chain. The largest and best known undersea mountain range is a mid-ocean ridge, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. [1]
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Mid-ocean ridges with a spreading rate less than or equal to 40 mm/year are considered to be slow-spreading ridges. These formations are typically characterized by a large depression in the seafloor, known as rift valleys, and are formed due to the lack of magma present to solidify. [7]
New oceanic crust forming continuously at the crest of the mid-ocean ridge cools and becomes increasingly older as it moves away from the ridge crest with seafloor spreading. In 1960, the American geophysicist Harry H. Hess hypothesized that the seafloor was spreading from the mid-ocean ridge system. [6]
Project FAMOUS (French-American Mid-Ocean Undersea Study [1]) was the first-ever marine scientific exploration by manned submersibles of a diverging tectonic plate boundary on a mid-ocean ridge. It took place between 1971 and 1974, with a multi-national team of scientists concentrating numerous underwater surveys on an area of the Mid-Atlantic ...
The British Mid-Ocean Ridge Initiative (the BRIDGE Programme) was a multidisciplinary scientific investigation of the creation of the Earth's crust in the deep oceans. It was funded by the UK's Natural Environment Research Council ( NERC ) from 1993 to 1999.