The ocean ridge rises up to several kilometers above the ocean floor, typically between 2 and 4 kilometers.
The mid-ocean ridge is a seafloor mountain system formed by plate tectonics.
It typically has a depth of about 2,600 meters (8,500 ft) and rises about 2,000 meters (6,600 ft) above the deepest portion of an ocean basin.
This feature is where seafloor spreading takes place along a divergent plate boundary.
The rate of seafloor spreading determines the morphology of the crest of the mid-ocean ridge and its width in an ocean basin.
The production of new seafloor and oceanic lithosphere results from mantle upwelling in response to plate separation.
The melt rises as magma at the linear weakness between the separating plates, and emerges as lava, creating new oceanic crust and lithosphere upon cooling.
The first discovered mid-ocean ridge was the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which is a spreading center that bisects the North and South Atlantic basins.
Most oceanic spreading centers are not in the middle of their hosting ocean basis but regardless, the depth of the seafloor at a location on a spreading mid-ocean ridge is proportional to the square root of the age of the seafloor.
The overall shape of ridges results from Pratt isostacy: close to the ridge axis, there is a hot, low-density mantle supporting the oceanic crust.
Increased rates of seafloor spreading have caused the global (eustatic) sea level to rise over very long timescales (millions of years).
Increased seafloor spreading means that the mid-ocean ridge will then expand and rise, causing the sea level to rise