Sea Floor Spreading Is The Tectonic Process That Occurs A

The process of seafloor spreading leads to the formation of numerous geographical features which can be terrestrial sub terrestrial or marine features.

Sea floor spreading is the tectonic process that occurs a.

Seafloor spreading helps to explain continental drift in the theory of plate tectonics. For instance the atlantic ocean is believed to be expanding because of its few trenches. Seafloor spreading helps explain continental drift in the theory of plate tectonics. 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.

When oceanic plates diverge tensional stress causes fractures to occur in the lithosphere. 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. The motivating force for seafloor spreading ridges is tectonic plate slab pull at subduction zones rather than magma pressure although there is typically. Subduction and sea floor spreading are processes that could alter the size and form of the ocean.

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. 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 theory that oceanic crust forms along submarine mountain zones and spreads out laterally away from them.

Seafloor spreading is credited for the formation of the red sea as a result of the movement of the arabian and african tectonic plates away from each other.