Sea Floor Spreading Mid Ocean Ridge Definition

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.

Sea floor spreading mid ocean ridge definition.

You might also like. Definition of mid ocean ridge. The oceanic crust is composed of rocks that move away from the ridge as new crust is being formed. Spreading rates determine if the ridge is fast intermediate or slow.

As a general rule fast ridges have spreading opening rates of more than 90 mm year. Wherever the sea floor is spreading the edges move apart while the. Molten material from inside earth rises to the ocean floor at a mid ocean ridge. The magnetism of mid ocean ridges helped scientists first identify the process of seafloor spreading in the early 20th century.

Basalt the once molten rock that makes up most new oceanic crust is a fairly magnetic substance and scientists began using magnetometers to measure the magnetism of the ocean floor in the 1950s what they discovered was that the magnetism of the ocean floor around. Seafloor spreading happens at the bottom of an ocean as tectonic plates move apart. 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. At ridges in the middle of oceans new oceanic crust is created.

The motivating force for seafloor spreading ridges is tectonic plate pull rather than magma pressure although there is typically significant magma activity at spreading ridges. The seafloor moves and carries continents with it. The mid ocean ridge is the region where new oceanic crust is created. 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.

The formation of the new crust is due to the rising of the molten material magma from the mantle by convection current. The process of sea floor spreading. A chain of underwater mountains along which seafloor spreading occurs.