The oceanic crust is composed of rocks that move away from the ridge as new crust is being formed.
Sea floor spreading e.
These age data also allow the rate of seafloor spreading to be determined and they show that rates.
World war ii gave scientists the tools to find the mechanism for continental drift that had eluded wegener.
Once the basalt cools completely into solid rock the.
As magma starts to harden into rock iron rich minerals solidify first.
The concept of seafloor spreading was put forward by h harry hess an american geologist.
Most basalt magmas contain abundant molten iron.
Their crystals are pulled into alignment by the earth s magnetic field just like a compass needle is pulled towards magnetic north.
The process of sea floor spreading.
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.
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.
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.
He suggested that new sea floor forms at the oceanic ridges and spread outwards from the line of origin.
Seafloor spreading is a process that occurs at mid ocean ridges where new oceanic crust is formed through volcanic activity and then gradually moves away from the ridge.
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.
As upwelling of magma continues the plates continue to diverge a process known as seafloor spreading samples collected from the ocean floor show that the age of oceanic crust increases with distance from the spreading centre important evidence in favour of this process.
Seafloor spreading definition a process in which new ocean floor is created as molten material from the earth s mantle rises in margins between plates or ridges and spreads out.
The mid ocean ridge is the region where new oceanic crust is created.
