Crust (geology) centers, where partial-melting of the underlying mantle yields basaltic magmas and new ocean crust forms. This "ridge push" is one of the driving forces of plate tectonics, and it is constantly creating new ocean crust. That means that old crust must be destroyed somewhere, so, opposite a spreading center, there is usually a subduction zone: a trench where an ocean plate is being shoved back into the mantle. This constant process of creating new ocean crust and destroying old ocean crust means that the oldest ocean crust on Earth today is only about 200 million years old. In contrast, the
Geology of the Iberian Peninsula a thinned piece of crust from another continent called the Meguma terrane. There are five units in the stack. At the lowest level are high pressure, low temperature metamorphosed rocks. Second is an ophiolite. Third is the lower part of a continental crust which has been metamorphosed to high temperature with high pressure. Fourth is a layer of sediments derived from weathering land with low-grade metamorphism. There is also an underlying Ediacaran and early Paleozoic layer called the autochthenous sequence. Metamorphism of the allochthenous nappe occurred 390–380 Ma in the Middle Devonian. This is possibly from the Rheic Ocean. Finally,