From my early teens I’ve been interested in places where bodies of water or continents meet (converge) or divide (diverge). I think it has more to do with the concept of such places and it certainly helps that such places are also magically beautiful and loaded with geologic facts. I think humans have always exhibited a natural curiosity and fascination with such places. Even early humans had a fascination with places which they eventually endowed with spiritual powers.
Indeed, we humans have built entire complexes and edifices in places prognosticated as crossroads, where spiritual and earthly power is believed to coalesce. We all have our individual favorites in this wondrous planet of ours. Even if the place is not acknowledged as a spiritual place, it can carry that heft with us as individuals.
I find such places mesmerizing. Don’t you? This place is one of many, for me.
Between Two Continents — North America and Eurasia.
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The Mid-Atlantic Ridge
There are many such places that I’m fascinated by and today I’m going to write about one – the Mid-Atlantic ridge. It is only one segment of the global mid-ocean ridge in the oceanic ridge system which encircles the Earth.
The ridge was first inferred by oceanographer, historian and geologist Matthew Fontaine Maury in 1850. While surveying and investigating where the transatlantic telegraph cable would be laid, the large rise was discovered and was later confirmed by sonar in 1925.
The mid ocean ridge systems are one of the largest features, geologically, on Earth. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a very long north-south laying submerged mountain range, beginning at 87°N — at about 333km south of the North Pole, going all the way down to Bouvet Island at 54°S. Picture of Bouvet Island below.
The ridge is equidistant between continents. There are mountains in the ridge which are quite tall and rise above waters to become islands -- such as Jan Mayen, Tristan da Cunha, Azores, Ascensions and St.Helen, just to name a few.
In this opening space, the American and the Eurasian plates are moving away from each other. The ridge has a 2 to 3km height and has a crest with a valley. This rift valley is where the divergence is occurring. Here is a site which explains it really well, including alternating magnetic strips etc., with a viddie!!
Go look at it! The viddie explains the magnetic stripe in the layer cake geology of the rift.
I would load it but it won’t let me.
As a feature, this rift is most apparent in Iceland. Yay, Iceland!
Mid-Atlantic Ridge through Iceland
Picture two giant conveyor belts moving in opposite directions, moving newly formed oceanic crust away from where it was formed. The plates are moving apart and opening the sea floor at 2.5cm per year. Iceland is one of those islands which straddles this ridge and there it is evident that the North American and the Eurasian plates are diverging. The map shows the Mid-Atlantic ridge splitting Iceland between the North American and Eurasian plates.
One such place is the Silfra fissure (really, it’s a canyon between two different continental plates), Þingvellir National Park. In the deep waters of the Atlantic, this crack, for lack of another word, is hard to see. However, it is quite visible at Þingvellir. It’s not just a canyon but also has a cave.
Silfra cave‘s cold clear waters attract scuba divers. It‘s one of the top 50 diving destinations because of its underwater visibility. The water is cold at 2º to 4º C which keeps it free of most aquatic life. However, there are some fish visible, in season, to snorkelers. The water in the fissure, undergoes a distillation process as it melts off the Hofsjökull glacier. That melt water runs underground through porous lava beds and emerges at Þingvellir National Park. The canyon and the accompanying cave shifts constantly due to regular earthquakes. Underwater visibility can run to 300 feet.
Snorkelers at Silfra Lagoon.
Silfra Crack
Silfra Canyon
And, now, a Video!
You can turn the music off if you want and still watch the video. The link has some great photos too.
More pictures.
What places do you see as magical?
What places hold your interest?
Please share with us.