Question

what happens to the plate of a divergent boundary, landforms it creates, and locations

Answer 1

Briefly, at a divergent plate boundary the two plates move apart and new crust is created as upwelling mantle rises, melts partly, and solidifies.

What happens to the plates
- Plates move away from each other (tens of mm/yr typically).
- Asthenosphere upwells into the gap, partially melts, and produces magma that cools to form new oceanic crust (basalt).
- The lithosphere thins and stretches; on continents this produces rifting and down-dropped grabens.
- Earthquakes at divergent boundaries are generally shallow.
- Overall these are constructive boundaries: they build new crust rather than destroy it.

Landforms and features produced
- Mid‑ocean ridges: long underwater mountain chains formed by newly created oceanic crust (e.g., Mid‑Atlantic Ridge).
- Rift valley (axial valley): a central valley or fissure along slow-spreading ridges (or continental rifts) where crust is pulling apart.
- Pillow lavas: bulbous basaltic lava formed by eruptions underwater.
- Hydrothermal vents (black and white smokers) and associated chemosynthetic ecosystems.
- New ocean basins: when continental rifting progresses, the area can widen into a new sea/ocean (Red Sea is an early example).
- Volcanic islands or elevated segments where the ridge reaches above sea level (e.g., Iceland).
- Transform faults and fracture zones that offset ridge segments and accommodate differential movement.

Examples and locations
- Mid‑Atlantic Ridge — runs down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean; Iceland sits on it.
- East Pacific Rise — fast‑spreading ridge in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
- East African Rift System — active continental rift splitting parts of eastern Africa (e.g., the Great Rift Valley, Afar region); may eventually form a new ocean.
- Red Sea — rifting between Africa and Arabia; an early-stage ocean basin.
- Baikal Rift Zone (Siberia) and the Rio Grande rift (North America) — examples of continental rifts.

A few extra notes
- Spreading rate matters: slow ridges (e.g., Mid‑Atlantic) have well‑defined rift valleys and rugged topography; fast ridges (e.g., East Pacific Rise) are smoother and more volcanic.
- Magnetic striping on the seafloor records symmetric patterns of geomagnetic reversals and provides evidence of seafloor spreading.

If you want, I can show a map of major divergent boundaries or compare features of a slow vs fast spreading ridge.