Convection currents also recycle lithospheric materials back to the mantle.
Sea floor spreading science definition.
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.
Convection currents carry heat from the lower mantle and core to the lithosphere.
Spreading rates determine if the ridge is fast intermediate or slow.
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.
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.
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.
Spreading rate is the rate at which an ocean basin widens due to seafloor spreading.
Seafloor spreading and other tectonic activity processes are the result of mantle convection.