Editing Mid-Atlantic Ridge (section)

==Geology==
{{for-multi|a general explanation of mid-oceanic ridges|Mid-ocean ridge|and|Seafloor spreading}}
[[File:Expl2286 - Flickr - NOAA Photo Library.jpg|thumb|Basaltic rocks of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge observed by the ''Hercules'' [[Remotely operated underwater vehicle|ROV]] during the 2005 [[Lost City Hydrothermal Field|Lost City]] Expedition]]

The ridge sits atop a geologic feature known as the '''Mid-Atlantic Rise''', which is a progressive bulge that runs the length of the Atlantic Ocean, with the ridge resting on the highest point of this linear bulge. This bulge is thought to be caused by upward convective forces in the [[asthenosphere]] pushing the [[oceanic crust]] and [[lithosphere]]. This divergent boundary first formed in the [[Triassic]] period, when a series of [[triple junction|three-armed]] [[graben]]s coalesced on the supercontinent [[Pangaea]] to form the ridge. Usually, only two arms of any given three-armed graben become part of a divergent plate boundary. The failed arms are called ''[[aulacogen]]s'', and the aulacogens of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge eventually became many of the large river valleys seen along the [[Americas]] and [[Africa]] (including the [[Mississippi River]], [[Amazon River]] and [[Niger River]]). The [[Fundy Basin]] on the Atlantic coast of North America between [[New Brunswick]] and [[Nova Scotia]] in [[Canada]] is evidence of the ancestral Mid-Atlantic Ridge.<ref>{{Cite journal
 | last1 = Burke
 | first1 = K.
 | last2 = Dewey
 | first2 = J. F.
 | authorlink2 = John Frederick Dewey
 | title = Plume-generated triple junctions: key indicators in applying plate tectonics to old rocks
 | year = 1973
 | journal = The Journal of Geology
 | volume = 81
 | issue = 4
 | pages = 406–433
 | doi = 10.1086/627882
 | jstor = 30070631
 | bibcode = 1973JG.....81..406B
 | s2cid = 53392107
 | url = http://es.ucsc.edu/~rcoe/eart206/Burke&Dewey_Aulacogens-%20TJs_JGeol73.pdf
 | access-date = 2022-02-26
 | archive-date = 2016-10-23
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161023202901/http://es.ucsc.edu/~rcoe/eart206/Burke%26Dewey_Aulacogens-%20TJs_JGeol73.pdf
 | url-status = dead
 }}<!-- {{Harvnb|Burke|Dewey|1973}}  --></ref><ref>{{Cite journal
 | last = Burke | first = K.
 | title = Development of graben associated with the initial ruptures of the Atlantic Ocean
 | year = 1976 | journal = Tectonophysics | volume = 36 | issue = 1–3 | pages = 93–112
 | doi=10.1016/0040-1951(76)90009-3| bibcode = 1976Tectp..36...93B
 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.473.8997
 }}<!-- {{Harvnb|Burke|1976}} --></ref>