Sea Floor Spreading Definition Geology

Seafloor spreading occurs along mid ocean ridges large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor.

Sea floor spreading definition geology. Seafloor spreading theory of lithospheric evolution that holds that the ocean floors are spreading outward from vast underwater ridges. Depth below seafloor is a vertical coordinate used in geology paleontology oceanography and petrology see ocean drilling. Every so often it has occurred over 170 times over the past 100 million years the poles will suddenly switch. Sea floor spreading synonyms sea floor spreading pronunciation sea floor spreading translation english dictionary definition of sea floor spreading.

Spreading rate is the rate at which an ocean basin widens due to seafloor spreading. Spreading rates determine if the ridge is fast intermediate or slow. For instance the atlantic ocean is believed to be expanding because of its few trenches. The neovolcanic zone is at the very axis.

Subduction and sea floor spreading are processes that could alter the size and form of the ocean. It is 1 to 2 km 0 6 to 1 2 miles wide and is the site of recent and active volcanism and of the hydrothermal vents it is marked by chains of small volcanoes or volcanic ridges. Due to this continuous seafloor spreading occurs and makes atlantic ocean floor to be connected to other continental crust making the ocean gets wider over the time. As the magma and lava cool at seafloor spreading centers whatever magnetic field is present get ingrained into the rock.

Spreading centres are divided into several geologic zones. In the theory of plate tectonics the process by which new oceanic crust is formed by the convective upwelling of magma at mid ocean ridges resulting in. The rate at which new oceanic lithosphere is added to each tectonic plate on either side of a mid ocean ridge is the spreading half rate and is equal to half of the spreading rate. Seafloor spreading theory that oceanic crust forms along submarine mountain zones and spreads out laterally away from them.

The mid atlantic ridge for instance separates the north american plate from the eurasian plate and the south american plate from the african plate the east pacific rise is a mid ocean ridge that runs through the eastern pacific ocean and separates the pacific plate from the north american. First proposed in the early 1960s by the american geologist harry h. Hess its major tenets gave great support to the theory of continental drift continental drift geological theory that the relative positions of the continents on the earth s surface have. This idea played a pivotal role in the development of the theory of plate tectonics which revolutionized geologic thought during the last quarter of the 20th century.