Sailing Across a Planet in Motion
Far below the surface of the North Atlantic lies one of the most extraordinary geological features on Earth: the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Stretching from the Arctic Ocean all the way down to the southern Atlantic, this is the longest mountain range in the world, yet it remains almost entirely hidden beneath the sea. This ridge marks a tectonic boundary: the meeting point of two massive plates — the Eurasian Plate and the North American Plate.
What happens when continents drift apart?
These tectonic plates are huge slabs of the Earth’s crust, floating slowly on a softer, molten layer beneath. The Eurasian Plate is drifting east. The North American Plate is drifting west. The two are moving away from each other at around 2.5 centimetres per year. It’s a speed that sounds slow, but over time reshapes the face of the planet. As they separate, a deep rift forms between them. From far below the Earth’s surface, magma rises up to fill the gap.
What is magma?
Magma is molten rock stored beneath the Earth’s crust. It forms when intense heat and pressure cause rock to melt deep underground. When magma reaches the surface, it becomes lava. But beneath the ocean, it cools and hardens as it meets seawater, creating new ocean floor and sometimes forming entire islands over time. This ongoing process at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge builds new crust, triggers earthquakes, and fuels underwater volcanic activity. It’s one of the few places on the planet where new land is being born beneath the sea, almost every single day.
Iceland: where the ridge breaks the surface
Iceland is a rare place where this submarine world rises above sea level. The country sits right on top of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge: half on the North American Plate, half on the Eurasian Plate. Nowhere else on Earth makes this rift so visible. In the Silfra fissure, you can dive directly between the plates, floating in glacial meltwater with dark volcanic rock on either side with one hand on each continent. It’s pretty cool!
Sailing across the seam of the Earth
When you sail with us from Norway to Iceland, or from Svalbard to Iceland via Jan Mayen, you cross directly over this active tectonic boundary and so to sail these routes is to pass over one of the most dynamic and geologically powerful places on the planet.
