Sea Floor Spreading Diagram Rift Valley

Seafloor spreading is happening at b.

Sea floor spreading diagram rift valley.

As oceanic lithosphere moves away from the ridge it cools and sinks deeper into the asthenosphere. Page 1 of 5. Molten rock pushes up from the asthenosphere and pushes the plates apart at the mid ocean ridge. Thus the depth to the sea floor increases with.

A rift valley is a lowland region that forms where earth s tectonic plates move apart or rift rift valleys are found both on land and at the bottom of the ocean where they are created by the process of seafloor spreading rift valleys differ from river valleys and glacial valleys in that they are created by tectonic activity and not the process of erosion. Tension rods were placed in the cracks created by the rift valley. As the rift valley spread the tension rods increased the length allowing the detection of the earth s spreading. Ess sea floor spreading pdf.

Also running down the middle of the mid ocean ridges is a narrow deep depression called a rift valley figure 4. The rift valley at fast spreading centers is narrower than at slow spreading centers. The theory is that the rift valleys will create new oceans so the detection of spreading in the rift valley provided evidence of seafloor spreading. Theory of sea floor spreading.

This creates new ocean crust. Thus for fast spreading centers the ridge stands at higher elevations than for slow spreading centers. Diagram of the atlantic ocean basin. Running down the middle of this basin is a large ridge that rises up from the ocean floor about 10 000 feet.

This is a mid ocean ridge. Ess sea floor spreading pdf. 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.