Going Home

Today we got up early and went to the airport. We boarded our plane and took off promptly. As we flew towards the United States over the Atlantic, the man sitting next to me was nice enough to point out two geologic features. The first was the Cape Verde Island chains, which is the result of a hotspot. A hotspot pushes up little islands, and a plate moves over it, so it creates an island chain. The picture below will give you a better idea. The Cape Verde islands are located at 14 degrees north latitude and 24 degrees west longitude. The second feature we saw from our plane was a divergent boundary. A divergent boundary is where magma comes up between a plate, and dries. It then splits apart to let more magma up, so the two plates get further and further apart. A divergent boundary is the reason the Atlantic Ocean is widening. It is basically where the ocean splits. These areas are prone to earthquakes, because obviously, the movement of plate tectonics would create an earthquake. The earthquakes are pretty small though, and being underwater often makes them unnoticeable. Also below is a picture. Eventually we made it home. It was the smoothest day of the vacation and we are all exhausted.

http://academic.emporia.edu/aberjame/student/henderson1/divergentboundary.jpg

http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/graphics/hot_spot.gif