Upsurge of matter from deep beneath Earth’s crust pushing Europe and America further apart, research suggests

The continents drifting roughly 4cm further apart each year, as experts tell Joe Middleton

The research team deploys a seismometer to the bottom of the Atlantic (University of Southampton)

An upsurge of matter from  deep beneath the Earth's crust is pushing America and Europe further apart by about four centimetres every year, new research has found.

UK experts studied the seismic activity in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR), a mountain range under the ocean and dividing line between the tectonic plates moving to the west and those moving to the east.

Using 39 seismometers - an instrument that measures ground movement - deployed at the bottom of the Atlantic the researchers found evidence of upwelling in the mantle - the material between the Earth's crust and its core- from depths of more than 600 kilometres.