What is the difference between ocean trenches and ridges?

What is the difference between ocean trenches and ridges?

Trench: very deep, elongated cavity bordering a continent or an island arc; it forms when one tectonic plate slides beneath another. Ridge: underwater mountain range that criss-crosses the oceans and is formed by rising magma in a zone where two plates are moving apart.

How are trenches and mountains formed in the ocean?

Trenches are formed by subduction, a geophysical process in which two or more of Earth’s tectonic plates converge and the older, denser plate is pushed beneath the lighter plate and deep into the mantle, causing the seafloor and outermost crust (the lithosphere) to bend and form a steep, V-shaped depression.

How do trenches and mountain ranges form?

The splitting of tectonic plates causes earthquakes to occur. Once an earthquake has occurred, ocean trenches are formed. Magma rises from the trench, and a volcano erupts. Then, the lava cools, creating mountains and island.

What is the difference between a mountain range and mid ocean ridges?

Mid-ocean ridges are areas of rifting where two tectonic plates are diverging from one another. Magma rises up through the rifts and forms mountain ranges. Deep-ocean trenches are formed at convergent plate boundaries where the more dense plate (usually the oceanic) subducts under the less dense (usually continental).

What is the difference between a rift and a trench?

As nouns the difference between trench and rift is that trench is a long, narrow ditch or hole dug in the ground while rift is a chasm or fissure.

What are ocean trenches and how are they formed?

Ocean trenches are steep depressions in the deepest parts of the ocean [where old ocean crust from one tectonic plate is pushed beneath another plate, raising mountains, causing earthquakes, and forming volcanoes on the seafloor and on land.

Where are trenches located?

Where are trenches located? Trenches are long, narrow and very deep and, while most are in the Pacific Ocean, can be found around the world. The deepest trench in the world, the Mariana Trench located near the Mariana Islands, is 1,580 miles long and averages just 43 miles wide. It is home to the Challenger Deep, which,

What is the deepest trench in the ocean?

The deepest trench in the world, the Mariana Trench located near the Mariana Islands, is 1,580 miles long and averages just 43 miles wide. It is home to the Challenger Deep, which, at 10,911 meters (35,797 feet), is the deepest part of the ocean.

What type of plate boundary is the Mariana Trench?

The Mariana Trench, in the South Pacific Ocean, is formed as the mighty Pacific plate subducts beneath the smaller, less-dense Philippine plate. In a subduction zone, some of the molten material—the former seafloor—can rise through volcanoes located near the trench.