Sea Floor Spreading Diagram Rift Valley

Tension rods were placed in the cracks created by the rift valley.

Sea floor spreading diagram rift valley.

As the rift valley spread the tension rods increased the length allowing the detection of the earth s spreading. 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. 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. Diagram of the atlantic ocean basin.

This is a mid ocean ridge. The rift valley at fast spreading centers is narrower than at slow spreading centers. Page 1 of 5. 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.

Theory of sea floor spreading. Ess sea floor spreading pdf. This creates new ocean crust. Ess sea floor spreading pdf.

As oceanic lithosphere moves away from the ridge it cools and sinks deeper into the asthenosphere. Sea floor spreading answer key. Thus the depth to the sea floor increases with. Seafloor spreading is happening at b.

Thus for fast spreading centers the ridge stands at higher elevations than for slow spreading centers. Running down the middle of this basin is a large ridge that rises up from the ocean floor about 10 000 feet. Molten rock pushes up from the asthenosphere and pushes the plates apart at the mid ocean ridge.