![Picture](/uploads/1/3/4/8/13487558/1347993257.jpg)
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which splits nearly the entire Atlantic Ocean north to south, is probably the best-known and most-studied example of a divergent-plate boundary. The rate of spreading along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge averages about 2.5 centimeters per year (cm/yr), or 25 km in a million years. Seafloor spreading over the past 100 to 200 million years has caused the Atlantic Ocean to grow from a tiny inlet of water between the continents of Europe, Africa, and the Americas into the vast ocean that exists today.
The Atlantic Ocean started to form in the late Triassic Period. By Early Jurassic time (about 190 million years ago) rifting separated West Africa and the Eastern U.S. and began opening the Atlantic Ocean. By Early Cretaceous (about 120 million years ago) Africa separated from South America; and by Late Cretaceous (about 80 million years ago) North America separated from Greenland.
The Mid Atlantic Ridge passes through Iceland
(olehnielsen.dk)
The Atlantic Ocean started to form in the late Triassic Period. By Early Jurassic time (about 190 million years ago) rifting separated West Africa and the Eastern U.S. and began opening the Atlantic Ocean. By Early Cretaceous (about 120 million years ago) Africa separated from South America; and by Late Cretaceous (about 80 million years ago) North America separated from Greenland.
The Mid Atlantic Ridge passes through Iceland
(olehnielsen.dk)