The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is both a salient feature in the earth’s crust and a centerpiece for plate tectonics. It emerges from the sea in Iceland, a land famous for its active volcanism. Field and published data are integrated to better quantify lava extrusion rates and apply these results to natural history scenarios, including the uniformitarian and diluvial geologic paradigms. Also relevant are tectonic models, particularly the standard plate-tectonics model and its diluvial counterpart, catastrophic plate tectonics. Iceland provides a unique opportunity to compare diluvial predictions with those of common uniformitarian origin theories. Both field and published data are better explained by the diluvial geologic paradigm than by traditional theories. Both plate-tectonics models can be applied to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in general and to Iceland in particular; however, a number of problems remain, and plate tectonics cannot change the chronological implications of the structure of the Icelandic lava pile.