Atlantic widens some more

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge today, part of the Atlantic Ocean's slow and steady widening. The interesting thing is that the event was on one of the longest transform segments in the world's oceans, making it one of the strongest strike-slip earthquakes possible under the sea. Strike-slip events are notorious on the continents, for instance almost every major quake in California, the deadly northern Turkey quakes and the Gujarat quake of 2001. Learn why there are transform faults on the seafloor.