What is the theory of sea floor spreading all about?
Seafloor spreading, theory that oceanic crust forms along submarine mountain zones, known collectively as the mid-ocean ridge system, and spreads out laterally away from them. As the magma cools, it is pushed away from the flanks of the ridges.
How does ocean floor relate to plate tectonics?
Bathymetry, the shape of the ocean floor, is largely a result of a process called plate tectonics. Convection currents in the molten mantle cause the plates to slowly move about the Earth a few centimeters each year. Many ocean floor features are a result of the interactions that occur at the edges of these plates.
What is sea floor spreading and which plate margin is it associated with?
Sea-floor spreading is what happens at the mid-oceanic ridge where a divergent boundary is causing two plates to move away from one another resulting in spreading of the sea floor. As the plates move apart, new material wells up and cools onto the edge of the plates.
What is the importance of seafloor spreading in understanding the origin of the plate?
Answer: Seafloor spreading helps explain continental drift in the theory of plate tectonics. When oceanic plates diverge, tensional stress causes fractures to occur in the lithosphere.
What is the effect of seafloor spreading?
Mid-ocean ridges and seafloor spreading can also influence sea levels. As oceanic crust moves away from the shallow mid-ocean ridges, it cools and sinks as it becomes more dense. This increases the volume of the ocean basin and decreases the sea level.
How did seafloor spreading contribute to the theory of plate tectonics?
When the concept of seafloor spreading came along, scientists recognized that it was the mechanism to explain how continents could move around Earth’s surface. Like the scientists before us, we will now merge the ideas of continental drift and seafloor spreading into the theory of plate tectonics.
How are seafloor spreading and subduction zones related?
Seafloor spreading is just one part of plate tectonics. Subduction is another. Subduction happens where tectonic plates crash into each other instead of spreading apart. At subduction zones, the edge of the denser plate subduct s, or slides, beneath the less-dense one.
How are convectional cells involved in seafloor spreading?
According to the theory of Seafloor spreading, convectional cells are the force behind drifting of continents. Also, please note that the ocean plates get subducted under the continental plates (since ocean plates are denser than continental plates), when these two types of plates converge.
Who is the founder of sea floor spreading?
The concept of seafloor spreading was put forward by H.Harry Hess, an American geologist. He suggested that new sea-floor forms at the oceanic ridges and spread outwards from the line of origin. Further, he claimed that continents would be pushed aside by the same forces that cause the ocean to grow.