172 Of 365: An Island Divided

The earth is splitting apart in the middle of Iceland. Actually, it’s splitting apart along a ridge that runs north to south through the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The European continental plate is creeping eastward and the North American creeping westward, and new crust is bursting out of the cleft between the two. This geologic melodrama is played out almost exclusively under the sea—aside from where the Mid-Atlantic Ridge emerges onto Iceland.