As I just asked, have you ever heard of the King's Trough Complex? Don't feel bad if you haven't. I think it's a place that primarily makes geological oceanographers happy.
The King's Trough Complex is a large and deep underwater canyon northeast of the Azores Islands. Now, the Azores are volcanic -- the tallest mountain in Portugal is actually Volcan Pico on Ilha de Pico -- so it's not a surprise that the King's Trough Complex might have some relationship to volcanism and tectonics.
Which it does.
How the "Atlantic Grand Canyon" came to exist
It's a short article -- and this paragraph provides the basic mechanism.
"Between 37 and 24 million years ago, a tectonic plate boundary shifted to the area, resulting in the crust fracturing and the seafloor between Europe and Africa opening like a zipper in an east-west direction. Prior to the shift, the crust was thickened and heated by an upwelling of molten rock from the mantle, making it particularly fragile."
See? Simple. I think they could offer underwater submersible tours for a high price.
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