How would you describe seafloor spreading?
Seafloor spreading is a geologic process in which tectonic plates—large slabs of Earth’s lithosphere—split apart from each other. Seafloor spreading is a geologic process in which tectonic plates—large slabs of Earth’s lithosphere—split apart from each other.
What is a sentence for the word seafloor spreading?
A profound consequence of seafloor spreading is that new crust was, and still is, being continually created along the oceanic ridges. The process that continually adds new material to the ocean floor is seafloor spreading and the continental slope.
What are some examples of evidence that the seafloor is spreading?
Evidence of Sea Floor Spreading
- Molten material. Hess’s discovery on the warmer temperature near the mid-Atlantic ridge when he began the ocean mapping, led to his evidence about the molten material underneath the ocean.
- Seafloor drill.
- Radiometric age dating and fossil ages.
- Magnetic stripes.
What are some features of seafloor spreading describe each one?
Seafloor spreading produces major characteristics of the seafloor – 1) the age of the seafloor is progressively older away from midocean ridges, 2) the elevation of the seafloor is progressively lower away from midocean ridges, 3) the magnetic history of the seafloor bears the striped-pattern of the Earth’s magnetic …
How does seafloor spreading affect the environment?
The rate of spreading determines how much CO2 is released to the atmosphere. When seafloor spreading speeds up, more lava is produced, causing more CO2 to be released into the atmosphere, promoting global warming.
What is the importance of seafloor spreading involving ocean ridges?
Significance. Seafloor spreading helps explain continental drift in the theory of plate tectonics. When oceanic plates diverge, tensional stress causes fractures to occur in the lithosphere.
What are spreading centers?
spreading centre, in oceanography and geology, the linear boundary between two diverging lithospheric plates on the ocean floor.
What are the strongest evidence for seafloor spreading?
When the Earth’s magnetic field reverses, a new stripe, with the new polarity, begins. Such magnetic patterns led to recognition of the occurrence of sea-floor spreading, and they remain some of the strongest evidence for the theory of plate tectonics.
What is the major evidence that seafloor spreading creates new lithosphere?
The record of magnetic reversals is carried away from each side of the spreading center of a mid-ocean ridge, showing that the molten rock is creating new lithosphere.
Can seafloor spreading cause earthquakes?
Volcanic activity causes the seafloor to spread along oceanic ridges, forming new areas of crust and mantle. After being generated, this new oceanic lithosphere cools down and contracts by up to 3% of its own volume. This contraction can trigger oceanic earthquakes.
Does seafloor spreading release CO2?
When seafloor spreading speeds up, more lava is produced, causing more CO2 to be released into the atmosphere, promoting global warming.