Divergent plate boundaries occur where two plates are moving apart from each other. This is the same thing with mountains but these divergent boundaries lift up. When plates break apart, the lithosphere thins and ruptures to form a divergent plate boundary. In the oceanic crust, this process is called seafloor spreading, because the splitting plates are spreading apart from each other. On land, divergent plate boundaries create rift valleys—deep valley depressions formed as the land slowly splits apart.
Divergent boundaries on land cause rifting, in which broad areas of land are uplifted, or moved upward. These uplifts and faulting along the rift result in rift valleys. Below is a picture of a valley.
