Final answer:
The fracture zone between Africa and South America is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a rift zone where these two tectonic plates are diverging, creating new oceanic crust. Option 1
Step-by-step explanation:
The fracture zone between Africa and South America is called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This is not simply a fracture but a rift zone where the tectonic plates are pulling apart from each other. At the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, upwelling currents in the mantle cause molten rock to rise and fill the space between the diverging African and South American plates. As these plates move apart, new oceanic crust is formed from the solidified basaltic lava.
The Great Rift Valley, on the other hand, is not the answer in this context, as it is located within the African continent, indicating a split within the African Plate into smaller tectonic units: the Somalian and Nubian Plates.
The San Andreas Fault is the transform boundary between the Pacific and North American plates, with no relevance to the Atlantic Ocean, while the Andes Mountains are the result of the subduction zone along the western margin of South America, again unrelated to the fracture zone between Africa and South America. Option 1