Sunday, February 7, 2010

What is the role of rifts and ridges in the creation of continents?

From wikipedia:





';In geology, a 鈻簉ift is a place where the Earth's crust and lithosphere are being pulled apart. Typical features are a central linear downdropped fault segment, called a graben, with parallel normal faulting and rift-flank uplifts on either side forming a rift valley. The axis of the rift area commonly contains volcanic rocks and active volcanism is a part of many but not all active rift systems. Rifts are distinct from Mid-ocean 鈻簉idges, where new oceanic crust and lithosphere is created by seafloor spreading. In rifts, no crust or lithosphere is produced. If rifting continues, eventually a mid-ocean ridge may form, marking a divergent boundary between two tectonic plates. Failed rifts are ancient to modern features where continental rifting began, but then failed to continue. Typically the transition from rifting to spreading develops as three converging rifts over a hotspot. Two of these evolve to the point of seafloor spreading, while the third ultimately fails, becoming an aulacogen.';.





You would see: a rift would be the first phase of division for a continent. Eventually the rift becomes a oceanic ridge, when the separation of the new two plates have startedWhat is the role of rifts and ridges in the creation of continents?
they cause continental drift

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