North Atlantic Gyre North Atlantic Gyre The North Atlantic Gyre, located in the Atlantic Ocean, is one of the five major oceanic gyres. It is a circular system of ocean currents that stretches across the North Atlantic from near the equator almost to Iceland, and from the east coast of North America to the west coasts of Europe and Africa. The currents that compose the North Atlantic Gyre include the Gulf Stream in the west, the North Atlantic Current in the north, the Canary Current in the east, and the Atlantic North Equatorial Current in the south. This gyre is particularly important for
Opening of the North Atlantic Ocean The final major phase of breakup occurred in the early Cenozoic, as Laurentia separated from Eurasia. As the two plates broke free from each other, the Atlantic Ocean continued to expand. The Iceland plume is a mantle plume under Iceland that carries hot material from the deep within Earth's mantle upwards to the crust. The rising hot material weakens the lithosphere, making the separation of plates easier. The flow of hot plume material creates volcanism under the continental lithosphere. Iceland extends across the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a divergent plate boundary, and it separates the Eurasian and North