Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Source: Rapture2018

Copyright: Public domain

Description

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, it separates the North American from the Eurasian Plate and the African Plate, north and south of the Azores Triple Junction respectively. In the South Atlantic, it separates the African and South American plates. The ridge extends from a junction with the Gakkel Ridge northeast of Greenland southward to the Bouvet Triple Junction in the South Atlantic. Although the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is mostly an underwater feature, portions of it have enough elevation to extend above sea level, for example in Iceland. The ridge has an average spreading rate of about 2.5 centimetres per year.
A ridge under the northern Atlantic Ocean was first inferred by Matthew Fontaine Maury in 1853, based on soundings by the USS Dolphin. The existence of the ridge and its extension into the South Atlantic was confirmed during the expedition of HMS Challenger in 1872. A team of scientists on board, led by Charles Wyville Thomson, discovered a large rise in the middle of the Atlantic while investigating the future location for a transatlantic telegraph cable. The existence of such a ridge was confirmed by sonar in 1925 and was found to extend around Cape Agulhas into the Indian Ocean by the German Meteor expedition.

Source

Source: Wikipedia.org

Copyright: Creative Commons 3.0

More information

PT | | Public | CatalanDutchFrenchGermanItalianSpanish

Contact information

Statistics

Looking for routes that pass here?

Nearby routes
Advertisement

Activities to do in surrounding Show all

Select one of the most popular activities below or refine your search.

- RouteYou Selections -

Discover the most beautiful and popular trails in the area, carefully bundled into appropriate selections.

Advertisement

Source: Rapture2018

Copyright: Public domain

Sights nearby Show all

Select one of the most popular categories below or be inspired by our selections.

- RouteYou Selections -

Discover the most beautiful and popular attractions in the area, carefully bundled in appropriate selections.

Destinations close by

Advertisement

Source: Rapture2018

Copyright: Public domain

Plan your route

With RouteYou, it's easy to create your own customised maps. Simply plot your route, add waypoints or nodes, add places of interest and places to eat and drink, and then easily share it with your family and friends.

Route planner

Route planner

This place of interest on your website

<iframe src="https://plugin.routeyou.com/poiviewer/free/?language=en&amp;params.poi.id=7978284" width="100%" height="600" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


More than 10,100,000 routes


More than 15,000,000 users


More than 4,500,000 points of interest

Address

Kerkstraat 108

9050 Gentbrugge, Belgium

Follow us

Download the free app

Contact

Marketing & sales

sales@routeyou.com

General queries

Contact our customer service team or visit our help center.

© 2006-2026 RouteYou - www.routeyou.com