Floor Spreading Definition

The continents bordering the atlantic ocean for example are believed to be moving away from the mid atlantic ridge at a rate of 1 2 cm 0 4 0 8 inch per year thus increasing.

Floor spreading definition.

In the theory of plate tectonics the process by which new oceanic crust is formed by the convective upwelling of magma at mid ocean ridges resulting in. Seafloor spreading definition is the divergence at mid ocean ridges of the tectonic plates underlying the oceans that is due to upwelling from the earth s interior of magma which solidifies and adds to the spreading plates. Wherever the sea floor is spreading the edges move apart while the magma in the middle hardens. Spreading rates determine if the ridge is fast intermediate or slow.

The youngest crust of the ocean floor can be found near the seafloor spreading centers or mid ocean ridges as the plates split apart magma rises from below the earth s surface to fill in the empty void. As the continents move apart whole new oceans. 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. Spreading rate is the rate at which an ocean basin widens due to seafloor spreading.

That means the rock in the center is the youngest. 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. Ocean floor spreading definition. The oceanic crust is composed of rocks that move away from the ridge as new crust is being formed.

The process of sea floor spreading. 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. A series of processes in which new oceanic lithosphere is created at oceanic ridges.

Meaning pronunciation translations and examples. This spreading creates a successively younger ocean floor and the flow of material is thought to bring about the migration or drifting apart of the continents.