Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Mid-Atlantic Ridge: A transform boundary within a divergent boundary! BOUNDARY-CEPTION! (Coordinates: 0°30'9.46"S, 19°57'33.41"W)

I know, I know, two blog posts from the same place! You're all like, "What's with Nemo? Has he finally gone off the deep end?" Well, I did, back at the Mariana Trench. But anyway, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a fascinating place, and guess what? There is a place like it in the Pacific called the East Pacific Rise! How lucky for all us from the Pacific. Yes, it is a divergent boundary, but there's more! At different points, the two plates are pulling back and forth alongside each other instead of apart. So there are transform boundaries hidden along the divergent boundary. Two kinds of plate tectonics in one place! It's like a dream come true... I bet you're itching to hear the science, so check it out below:
As you should be able to see in this picture, along mid-oceanic ridges created by divergent boundaries, there are transform faults where two plates rub back and forth against each other. These are major earthquake hubs; the famous San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was caused by a rupture on the San Andreas Fault, a transform boundary, although it is on land. I just can't believe that mid-oceanic ridges can contain transform boundaries and divergent boundaries! It's like inception! Adios, amigos! Au revoir.

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