Sea Floor Spreading

World war ii gave scientists the tools to find the mechanism for continental drift that had eluded wegener.

Sea floor spreading. 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. Video sharing camera phone video phone free upload. Earlier theories by alfred wegener and alexander du toit of continental drift postulated that. The formation of the new crust is due to the rising of the molten material magma from the mantle by convection current.

Seafloor spreading occurs along mid ocean ridges large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor. The concept of sea floor spreading. Seafloor spreading theory that oceanic crust forms along submarine mountain zones and spreads out laterally away from them. The concept of seafloor spreading was put forward by h harry hess an american geologist.

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. 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. The mid ocean ridge is the region where new oceanic crust is created. He suggested that new sea floor forms at the oceanic ridges and spread outwards from the line of origin.

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. Further he claimed that continents would be pushed aside by the same forces that cause the ocean to grow. This video goes over the process of sea floor spreading and the evidence that supports this theory. These age data also allow the rate of seafloor spreading to be determined and they show that rates.

The oceanic crust is composed of rocks that move away from the ridge as new crust is being formed.