I showed up to the interview dressed to the nines, post double shot latte, and mentally prepped only to be ushered to a hallway lined with chairs and a dozen other potential applicants already waiting their turn. I knew I needed something to make me stand out if I had any chance of securing the job.
Answer 1: At plate boundaries where sea-floor spreading occurs, magma wells up to fill the space created by the plates that are moving apart. Check out this United States Geologic Survey (USGS) educational animation to see visually how it works:
The production of new seafloor results from mantle upwelling in response to plate spreading; this isentropic upwelling solid mantle material eventually exceeds the solidus and melts. The buoyant melt rises as magma at a linear weakness in the oceanic crust, and emerges as lava, creating new crust upon cooling. A mid-ocean ridge demarcates the boundary between two tectonic plates, and consequently is termed a divergent plate boundary.