What type of force causes divergent boundaries?

What type of force causes divergent boundaries?

Tectonics. Divergent plate boundaries are locations where plates are moving away from one another. This occurs above rising convection currents. The rising current pushes up on the bottom of the lithosphere, lifting it and flowing laterally beneath it.

What are the 3 types of stress that can occur at plate boundaries?

Stress is the force applied to a rock and may cause deformation. The three main types of stress are typical of the three types of plate boundaries: compression at convergent boundaries, tension at divergent boundaries, and shear at transform boundaries.

What are most common at divergent plate boundaries?

Most divergent plate boundaries are underwater and form submarine mountain ranges called oceanic spreading ridges. While the process of forming these mountain ranges is volcanic, volcanoes and earthquakes along oceanic spreading ridges are not as violent as they are at convergent plate boundaries.

What type of fault is formed at divergent plate boundaries?

normal faults
Reverse faults occur at convergent plate boundaries, while normal faults occur at divergent plate boundaries. Earthquakes along strike-slip faults at transform plate boundaries generally do not cause tsunami because there is little or no vertical movement.

What are the 2 types of divergent boundaries?

At divergent boundaries, sometimes called constructive boundaries, lithospheric plates move away from each other. There are two types of divergent boundaries, categorized by where they occur: continental rift zones and mid-ocean ridges.

What two features are commonly found at divergent boundaries?

The features most commonly associated with divergent boundaries between tectonic plates are rift valleys, ocean ridges, fissure volcanoes, and…

What can stress do to rocks?

If more stress is applied to the rock, it bends and flows. It does not return to its original shape. Near the surface, if the stress continues, the rock will fracture and break. With increasing stress, the rock deforms and may eventually fracture.

What kind of stress occurs at a divergent boundary?

Tension
Tension is the major type of stress at divergent plate boundaries. When forces are parallel but moving in opposite directions, the stress is called shear.

What are the three boundary types?

There are three main types of plate boundaries:

• Convergent boundaries: where two plates are colliding. Subduction zones occur when one or both of the tectonic plates are composed of oceanic crust.
• Divergent boundaries – where two plates are moving apart.
• Transform boundaries – where plates slide passed each other.

What are the two types of divergent plate boundaries?

What are the 3 fault types?

There are three main types of fault which can cause earthquakes: normal, reverse (thrust) and strike-slip. Figure 1 shows the types of faults that can cause earthquakes.

In which two places do divergent boundaries occur?

Divergent boundaries are typified in the oceanic lithosphere by the rifts of the oceanic ridge system, including the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the East Pacific Rise, and in the continental lithosphere by rift valleys such as the famous East African Great Rift Valley.

What type of stresses does the divergent plate boundary have?

Tension is the major type of stress at divergent plate boundaries. When forces are parallel but moving in opposite directions, the stress is called shear. Shear stress is the most common stress at transform plate boundaries.

What happens to the lithosphere at a divergent boundary?

When a divergent boundary occurs beneath oceanic lithosphere, the rising convection current below lifts the lithosphere, producing a mid-ocean ridge. Extensional forces stretch the lithosphere and produce a deep fissure. When the fissure opens, pressure is reduced on the super-heated mantle material below.

Which feature forms at a divergent boundary?

When divergent boundaries occur in continental plates, a different geological feature, called a rift valley, is formed. These depressions slowly fill with water, forming lakes, as their level drops. Ultimately, they will form the floor of a new ocean.

What is fault type I associated with a divergent boundary?

Divergent boundaries can create massive fault zones in the oceanic ridge system. Spreading is generally not uniform, so where spreading rates of adjacent ridge blocks are different, massive transform faults occur. These are the fracture zones, many bearing names, that are a major source of submarine earthquakes.