Mid-Atlantc Ridge on Iceland (Thingvellir National Park)
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 (about 10,000 milesor 16,000 km).
In the North Atlantic, the ridge separates the North American from the Eurasian Plate and the African Plate, north and south of the Azores Triple Junction respectively.
Because of seafloor spreading and the movement of the ocean floor and of the continents outward from the ridge, the Atlantic Basin is widening at an estimated rate of 1 to 10 cm (0.5 to 4 inches) a year.
The majority of the mountains and rifts this ridge has created are covered by the ocean, but the country of Iceland is the exception.
