How old is the Atlantic Ocean?

Question

Assuming the average plate movement is 3.8cm/year, how old is the atlantic ocean?

Answer 1

The Atlantic Ocean is 150-135 million years old.

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~180 Million Years Ago~
The supercontinent Pangea began to break up into two continents, Laurasia and Gondwanaland. Laurasia was made of the present day continents of North America (Greenland), Europe, and Asia. Gondwanaland was made of the present day continents of Antarctica, Australia, South America.

Scientists believe that Pangea broke apart for the same reason that the plates are moving today. The movement is caused by the convection currents that roll over in the upper zone of the mantle. This movement in the mantle causes the plates to move slowly across the surface of the Earth.

The huge world-ocean called Panthalassa remained but the Atlantic Ocean was going to be born soon with the splitting of North America from the Eurasian Plate.

~150-135 Million Years Ago~
150 to 135 million years ago Laurasia was on the move, and as it moved it broke up into the continents of North America, Europe and Asia (Eurasian plate).

Gondwanaland was spread apart, too, and it broke up into the continents of Africa, Antarctica, Australia, South America, and the subcontinent of India.

Arabia started to separate from Africa as the Red Sea opened up.

The Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Pacific Oceans were beginning to take shape as the continents move toward their present positions.


~The Atlantic Ocean~
The Atlantic began to form about 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic period, when a rift opened up in the supercontinent of Gondwanaland, resulting in the separation of South America and Africa.

The separation continues today at the rate of several centimeters a year along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Part of the midoceanic ridge system that girdles the world, it is a submarine ridge extending north to south in a sinuous path midway between the continents.

Roughly 930 miles wide, the ridge has a more rugged topography than any mountain range on land, and is a frequent site of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. The ridge ranges from 1/2 to 2 miles above the ocean bottom.

The Atlantic Ocean is the second youngest of the world's oceans, after the Southern Ocean.

Answer 2

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RE:
How old is the Atlantic Ocean?
Assuming the average plate movement is 3.8cm/year, how old is the atlantic ocean?

Answer 3

About 180 million years ago, with the breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea.

Answer 4

47 years

Answer 5

A little bit older than the crap lying on the bottom of it!