Mid-Atlantic Ridge

( Called MAR or the English term Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Mid-Atlantic threshold) The very elongated Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a lying below sea mountain range in the Atlantic Ocean, part of the erdumspannenden system of mid-ocean ridges. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge, with more than 20,000 km extension of the longest back of this 60,000 -km-long system.

Geography

Due to the S- shaped back, which runs pretty much along the ocean centerline and extends from Gakkel Ridge in the Arctic Ocean to the Bouvet Island at the edge of the Atlantic- Indian Südpolarbeckens off Antarctica, the Atlantic Ocean is divided into a western and an eastern half. At the equator, it is divided by the to 7730 meters deep Romanchegraben in the North and the South Atlantic ridge (also called the North and South Atlantic threshold). From about the Bouvet Island is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to the east over the Atlantic- Indian ridge, which is considered southern slopes of the South Atlantic Ridge, in the system of the Indian Ocean beyond.

The crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge averages about 1,500 to 3,000 meters below the water surface. Characteristic of him is his deep central trench that runs from north to south longitudinally through the entire back. This grave breach, which was discovered in 1952 by a team led by Bruce C. Heezen and Marie Tharp, has a width of 25 to 50 kilometers. Transverse faults ( transform faults ) and parallel sleepers and back form a coarse grid on the seabed in the area this mid-ocean ridge. The back is accompanied on his course through the Atlantic from numerous west and east adjacent ocean basins.

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is caused by the spread of the seafloor ( seafloor spreading ) and still volcanically and tectonically very active. Here removed by plate tectonics about the north, the North American and the Eurasian plate from each other. The volcanic activity diminishes with increasing distance from the grave breach. The further you move away towards the coast from the back, the older the ocean floors.

Islands

Directly on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge Islands sit or island groups which constitute the highest elevations of a largely submarine mountain range. These are, from north to south, with their respective highest peaks (height in meters):