Sea Floor Spreading Diagram Trench

What is the evidence for se floor spreading.

Sea floor spreading diagram trench. Over time new. Seafloor spreading occurs along mid ocean ridges large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor. Students will make a paper model illustrating the concept of sea floor spreading and the development of symmetrical magnetic stripes on either side of a mid ocean spreading center. The hadal zone which includes the oceanic trenches lies between 6 000 11 000 metres 20 000 36 000 ft and is the deepest oceanic zone.

Subduction and sea floor spreading are processes that could alter the size and form of the ocean. Oceanic trenches are topographic depressions of the sea floor relatively narrow in width but very long. Maps and other data gathered during the war allowed scientists to develop the seafloor spreading hypothesis this hypothesis traces oceanic crust from its origin at a mid ocean ridge to its destruction at a deep sea trench and is the mechanism for continental drift. 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.

For instance the atlantic ocean is believed to be expanding because of its few trenches. A model of sea floor spreading teacher s guide ellen p. World war ii gave scientists the tools to find the mechanism for continental drift that had eluded wegener. 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.

Wherever continents are bordered by deep sea trench systems as in the pacific ocean the ocean floor is plunged downward underthrusting the continents and ultimately reentering and dissolving in earth s mantle from which it had originated. Oceanic trenches are a distinctive morphological feature of convergent plate boundaries along which lithospheric plates move towards each other at rates that vary from a few millimeters to over ten centimeters per year. Label the trench mid ocean ridge oceanic crust continental crust and indicate with arrows the direction of sea floor spreading and subduction. Start studying sea floor spreading 3 2.

What is the role of the mid ocean ridge in sea floor spreading. These oceanographic features are the deepest parts of the ocean floor. Learn vocabulary terms and more with flashcards games and other study tools. Students work as individuals.

Depth below seafloor is a vertical coordinate used in geology paleontology oceanography and petrology see ocean drilling.