Sea Floor Spreading Gis

Tharp and heezen s work was revolutionary in that led to many discoveries and the theories of continental drift of plate tectonics.

Sea floor spreading gis. Marie built her physiographic map of the atlantic ocean by assembling sparse echo sounder profiles collected aboard multiple expeditions. Crater lake images data movie poster cd rom. Seafloor spreading theory that oceanic crust forms along submarine mountain zones and spreads out laterally away from them. Marie tharp s maps excited work in seafloor spreading and were fundamental to the plate tectonics revolution.

Sea floor spreading the process that occurs at mid ocean ridges in which convection currents below pull the plates apart and create new sea floor. Sediment any solid material that has settled out of a state of suspension in liquid. As an oceanographic cartographer marie tharp is credited with scientifically mapping the ocean floor in partnership with her colleague bruce heezen. Spreading rates determine if the ridge is fast intermediate or slow.

Seafloor spreading occurs along mid ocean ridges large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor. 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. Tharp was a pioneer in science both as a woman and for her mapmaking. Further he claimed that continents would be pushed aside by the same forces that cause the ocean to grow.

The concept of sea floor spreading. Students study the bathymetry of the south atlantic use magnetic reversals to interpret marine magnetic anomalies and calculate the rate of seafloor spreading. He suggested that new sea floor forms at the oceanic ridges and spread outwards from the line of origin. Sea floor spreading n the process of adding to the earth s crust at mid ocean ridges as magma wells up and forces previously formed crust apart.

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. Elwha river bathymetry and acoustic backscatter 2010 bathymetry and topography data 2010 2016. Channel islands images data. Spreading rate is the rate at which an ocean basin widens due to seafloor spreading.

Deep sea basins washington oregon and california report and data. This activity takes place in a laboratory setting and requires 1 5 2 hours to complete. The concept of seafloor spreading was put forward by h harry hess an american geologist. World war ii gave scientists the tools to find the mechanism for continental drift that had eluded wegener.

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.