Sea Floor Spreading Diagram Rift Valley
Tension rods were placed in the cracks created by the rift valley.
Sea floor spreading diagram rift valley. Thus the depth to the sea floor increases with. Page 1 of 5. Ess sea floor spreading pdf. The theory is that the rift valleys will create new oceans so the detection of spreading in the rift valley provided evidence of seafloor spreading.
As the rift valley spread the tension rods increased the length allowing the detection of the earth s spreading. Molten rock pushes up from the asthenosphere and pushes the plates apart at the mid ocean ridge. 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. Seafloor spreading occurs along mid ocean ridges large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor.
Running down the middle of this basin is a large ridge that rises up from the ocean floor about 10 000 feet. Ess sea floor spreading pdf. Also running down the middle of the mid ocean ridges is a narrow deep depression called a rift valley figure 4. Sea floor spreading answer key.
Seafloor spreading is happening at b. Thus for fast spreading centers the ridge stands at higher elevations than for slow spreading centers. Diagram of the atlantic ocean basin. This is a mid ocean ridge.
It is an underwater mountain range that forms when magma pushes up on the crust at a divergent boundary. As oceanic lithosphere moves away from the ridge it cools and sinks deeper into the asthenosphere. Theory of sea floor spreading.