Tec­ton­ics facts

Scandinavian Mountains. The whole Scandinavia experiences uplift as a result of post-glacial rebound. In northern Europe, this is clearly shown by the GPS data obtained by the BIFROST GPS network. The average uplift is less than 1cm/year, but it may accumulate to 400m during next 10,000 years.

Ocean floor. In the 1950s scientists discovered zebra-like pattern of the ocean floor magnetic polarity. It turned out that the stripes of rock parallel to the mid-ocean ridge crest alternate in magnetic polarity (normal-reversed-normal, etc.), suggesting that they were formed during different epochs documenting the normal and reversal episodes of the Earth's magnetic field.

Eurasian and North American. Extremely eastern Siberia, more or less from the mouth of Lena to the Arctic Ocean, along with Chukotka and Sakhalin lies on the North American tectonic plate.

Africa and South America. Bacause of the ongoing spreading of the Atlantic Ocean, Africa and South America (just like Europe and North America) are moving away from each other at the rate of about 3 centimeters (1,2 inch) per year.

Horn of Africa. The break-up of Pangaea continues today in the Red Sea Rift and East African Rift. The latter will eventually become a sea separating Horn of Africa from the rest of the continent.