Sea Floor Spreading Definition

Meaning of seafloor spreading.

Sea 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. 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.

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. Seafloor spreading synonyms seafloor spreading pronunciation seafloor spreading translation english dictionary definition of seafloor spreading.

Sea floor spreading synonyms sea floor spreading pronunciation sea floor spreading translation english dictionary definition of sea floor spreading. 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. Basaltic magma rises up the fractures and cools on the ocean floor to form new sea floor. As the continents move apart whole new oceans.

What does seafloor spreading mean. Older rocks will be found further away from the spreading zone while younger rocks will be found nearer to the.