Sea Floor Spreading Rate Of Pacific
Other pacific area volcanic phenomena in mid plate and convergent boundary settings also show.
Sea floor spreading rate of pacific. The rate is about 2 2 inches 3 6 cm per year. Use the above equation to calculate spreading rate. At the east pacific rise which is pushing a plate into the west coast of south america the rate is 12 6 inches 32 2 cm. At spreading rates of about 15 cm 6 inches per year the entire crust beneath the pacific ocean about 15 000 km 9 300 miles wide could be produced in 100 million years.
Seafloor spreading rates are much more rapid in the pacific ocean than in the atlantic and indian oceans. R d t or r 9 5 10 7 cm 6 5 10 7 years 1 46 cm yr. 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. Seafloor spreading occurs along mid ocean ridges large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor.
The mid atlantic ridge is a slow spreading center while the east pacific rise is an example of fast spreading. 1cm yr to 10 cm yr. Ranges of spreading throughout the world s oceans. Sea floor spreading rates from four locations along the nazca pacific plate boundary and one along the juan de fuca pacific plate boundary show variations over the past 2 4 m y with decreasing rates prior to the jaramillo to olduvai time interval 0 92 1 73 m y.
Ago and increasing rates since then. The sea floor spread. 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.