How did the Atlantic Ocean form?

Answer 1

Well the basin of the Atlantic ocean formed when the Americas started moving west away from Africa and Europe. There is a giant mid-ocean ridge that runs north to south in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. This is a seafloor spreading zone where convection currents from the asthenosphere (mantle) cause the lithosphere (crust) to split appart and move in opposit directions. The Atlantic ocean is fairly young and it grows bigger by about a cm or two each year. Conversely the Pacific ocean is becoming smaller each year by a couple cm.

There is no definative theory explaining where all Earth's water came from. Some have suggested it came from comets and asteroids, a theory that I find highly unlikely. A more likely theory would be that the water was part of the material that origionally formed the earth, and since it is less dense than rock it migrated from inside the earth to the surface. During volcanic eruptions large amounts of water vapor are released into the atmosphere.

Answer 2

Seafloor spreading. At the Mid-Atlantic Ridge located in the Atlantic Ocean, material from the upper mantle rises through the faults between oceanic plates to form new crust as the plates move away from each other, a phenomenon first observed as continental drift. As Pangea separated, the Atlantic Ocean formed.

Answer 3

The Atlantic Ocean appears to be the second youngest of the world's oceans, after the Southern Ocean. Evidence indicates that it did not exist prior to 180 million years ago, when the continents that formed from the breakup of the ancestral supercontinent, Pangaea, were being rafted apart by the process of seafloor spreading.

Answer 4

Pangaea began to break up about 200 million years ago. You take it from there. Go to usgs.gov. Follow the track to plate tectonics. They'll even give you an animated picture of the process.

Answer 5

two continents drifted apart. Europe and The americas. Dont bother to look for newspaper clippings .It happened long before we had printing presses.Africa and south america separated as well you can see that on a map of the world. They fit like a jigsaw puzzle.

Answer 6

Genesis 1
1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

6And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

7And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

8And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

9And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

10And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

Answer 7

not god but from billions of years of vapor and steam from volcanoes from when the earth was first formed . Volcanoes covered all of earth and Geisures shooting vaper steam and hydrogen in the ozone then raining down cooling the earth and forming oceans. then life formed and evovled.

Answer 8

Plate Techtonics

Answer 9

There is no factual explanation for this, just theories. Knowledge of the creation of the earth is beyond our capability. All I can be sure of though is that the earth is not only 6000 years old....as the flawed, man-made Bible claims.

Answer 10

It rained alot, remember Noah?