There are 3 primary types of Tectonic Plate boundaries: Divergent boundaries; Covergent boundaries; and Transform boundaries. As the giant plates move, diverging [pulling apart] or converging [coming together] along their borders, tremendous energies are unleashed resulting in tremors that transform Earth’s surface. Iceland offers scientists a natural laboratory for studying - on land - the processes that occur along submerged parts of a divergent boundary. Iceland is splitting along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (a divergent boundary between the North American and Eurasian Plates). As North America moves westward and Eurasia eastward, new crust is created on both sides of the diverging boundary. While the creation of new crust adds mass to Iceland on both sides of the boundary, it also creates a rift along the boundary. Iceland will inevitably break apart into two separate land masses at some point in the future, as the Atlantic waters eventually rush in to fill the widening and deepening space between.
Posted on: Tue, 27 May 2014 09:52:34 +0000
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