Short Definition For Sea Floor Spreading

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.

Short definition for sea floor spreading.

Sea floor spreading synonyms sea floor spreading pronunciation sea floor spreading translation english dictionary definition of sea floor spreading. 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. Spreading rates determine if the ridge is fast intermediate or slow. 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 synonyms seafloor spreading pronunciation seafloor spreading translation english dictionary definition of seafloor spreading. 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. These age data also allow the rate of seafloor spreading to be determined and they show that rates. N a series of processes in which new oceanic lithosphere is created at oceanic ridges spreads away from the ridges and returns to the earth s interior.

Spreading rate is the rate at which an ocean basin widens due to seafloor spreading. In 1912 when alfred wegener proposed that the continents had once been joined together and had split apart the biggest weakness in his hypothesis was the. 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. Seafloor spreading occurs along mid ocean ridges large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor.

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.