Sea Floor Spreading Images

The following features are shown at example depths to scale though each feature has a considerable range at which it may occur.

Sea floor spreading images.

Spreading rate is the rate at which an ocean basin widens due to seafloor spreading. Normal seafloor spreading does not produce microplates but if you have a collision of one continent with another continent it causes the whole plate to change direction said sandwell a co author of the paper. See more ideas about seafloor spreading earth science plate tectonics. This creates a three armed rift called a triple junction usually with each rift at a.

As it changes direction it creates things like microplates. The process is continuous because forces cause opposite sides of the midocean ridge to constantly move apart making new room for the process to repeat. This graphic shows several ocean floor features on a scale from 0 35 000 feet below sea level. This can result in an ever widening seafloor at the.

The map view depicts the visible appearance of the oceanic crust. Continental shelf 300 feet continental slope 300 10 000 feet abyssal plain 10 000 feet abyssal hill 3 000 feet up from the abyssal plain seamount 6 000 feet. 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 following link shows images of the sea floor spreading as well as support materials for plate tectonics study.

Seafloor spreading is the continuous process of forming new igneous rock at midocean ridges by injection of magma that forms new seafloor. Seafloor spreading theory that oceanic crust forms along submarine mountain zones and spreads out laterally away from them. The figure below includes two images of the ocean floor. Seafloor spreading occurs along mid ocean ridges large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor.

The process begins when the crust is heated from beneath by upwelling in the mantle sometimes called a mantle plume. 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. View more images of the day. Sea floor spreading earth science post module 2 middle school page 3 the youngest rock will always be closest to the ridge area and the oldest will be.

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. This idea played a pivotal role in the development of the theory of plate tectonics which revolutionized geologic thought during the last quarter of the 20th century.