A divergent boundary is a place where rock masses have been broken apart and are moving away from each other. This creates new crust as magma rises to fill the gap, leading to the formation of mid-ocean ridges or rift valleys on land.
Water seeps into cracks in rocks, freezes, expands, and creates pressure that makes the rock split. This process, known as ice wedging, occurs repeatedly over time due to temperature fluctuations, eventually causing the rock to break apart.
erosion
The term for ice breaking apart a rock is freeze-thaw weathering. This process occurs when water seeps into cracks in rocks, freezes, expands, and causes the rock to break apart.
Ice wedging occurs when water seeps into cracks in rocks or soil, freezes, and expands, creating pressure that forces the crack to widen. With repeated cycles of freezing and thawing, the crack will continue to expand and eventually break apart the rock or soil through a process known as frost wedging.
Tensile stress is the force that pulls rock apart, causing it to break or fracture. This type of stress occurs when rocks are stretched in opposite directions, leading to the formation of cracks or faults in the rock.
Tensile stress.
Tensional stress pulls crust apart and stretches rock, causing it to deform and eventually break along fault lines. This type of stress commonly occurs at divergent plate boundaries where tectonic plates are moving away from each other.
Tension in Earth's crust pulls rock apart, causing hanging walls. In a normal fault, the fault is at an angle, so one block of rock lies above the fault while the other block lies below the fault. The block of rock that lies above is called the hanging wall. The rock that lies below is called the footwall.
The rock exerts an equal and opposite force on the Earth, according to Newton's third law of motion. This means that while the Earth pulls the rock downward due to gravity, the rock also pulls the Earth upward with an equal force.
gravity
Tension in Earth's crust pulls rock apart, causing hanging walls. In a normal fault, the fault is at an angle, so one block of rock lies above the fault while the other block lies below the fault. The block of rock that lies above is called the hanging wall. The rock that lies below is called the footwall.
Gravity is the force that causes rocks to roll downhill. The slope of the hill creates a gravitational potential energy that pulls the rock towards the bottom. As the rock starts rolling, this potential energy is converted into kinetic energy, driving the rock downward.
A divergent boundary is a place where rock masses have been broken apart and are moving away from each other. This creates new crust as magma rises to fill the gap, leading to the formation of mid-ocean ridges or rift valleys on land.
Gravity
Forces acting on rock can cause tension when two tectonic plates move away from each other, creating a gap. The force of the movement stretches the rock, pulling it apart and creating tension within the rock mass. This tension can eventually lead to the formation of faults or fractures in the rock.
The stress force that pulls on the crust and thins rock in the middle is called tension. Tensional stress occurs when two plates move away from each other, creating faults where rocks are pulled apart and thinned in the middle. This process is often associated with the formation of rift valleys and mid-ocean ridges.