how are the african plate and the south american plate moving relative to each other

The African Plate and the South American Plate are moving away from each other across the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.

Type of boundary

• The boundary between the African Plate and the South American Plate is a divergent plate boundary, located along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

• At a divergent boundary, tectonic plates separate, and magma rises to create new oceanic crust between them.

Direction and speed of movement

• Along their shared boundary, the African Plate moves generally eastward , while the South American Plate moves generally westward , so the plates separate horizontally.

• The separation rate is only a few centimeters per year, but over millions of years this has widened the Atlantic Ocean and continues to do so today.

How we can tell

• The matching shapes of the coastlines of eastern South America and western Africa, like puzzle pieces, are classic evidence they were once joined and have since drifted apart.

• Similar rocks and fossils found on both sides of the Atlantic support that these plates split and continue to move apart along a diverging boundary.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.