The Seafloor Spreading

Seafloor spreading as upwelling of magma continues the plates continue to diverge a process known as seafloor spreading.

The seafloor spreading.

In sea floor spreading new crust is added at a. Convection currents within the mantle take the continents on a conveyor belt ride of oceanic crust that over millions of years takes them around the planet s surface. Seafloor spreading is a geologic process where there is a gradual addition of new oceanic crust in the ocean floor through a volcanic activity while moving the older rocks away from the mid oceanic ridge. The seafloor s permanent magnetic signatures showed that new ocean crust was created at the ridge crests and then spread outward in both directions.

The breakup of pangaea by seafloor spreading is seen in this animation. Seafloor spreading is the mechanism for wegener s drifting continents. Seafloor spreading is a part of plate tectonics. The mid ocean ridge is where the seafloor spreading occurs in which tectonic plates large slabs of earth s lithosphere split apart from each other.

Seafloor spreading is a geologic process in which tectonic plate s large slabs of earth s lithosphere split apart from each other. This creates a three armed rift called a triple junction usually with each rift at a 120 angle to the rest. Seafloor spreading is a constant geologic phenomenon and a primary driver of continental drift. The new material splits apart the old material and pushes it outward from the ridge.

What happens to old oceanic crust as new molten material rises from the mantle. Subduction takes place at. When oceanic plates diverge tensional stress causes fractures to occur in the lithosphere. Seafloor spreading helps explain continental drift in the theory of plate tectonics.

Mantle convection is the slow churn ing motion of earth s mantle. Its discovery provided a mechanism for continental drift that alfred wegener could not explain. 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. Samples collected from the ocean floor show that the age of oceanic crust increases with distance from the spreading centre important evidence in favour of this process.

Seafloor spreading and other tectonic activity processes are the result of mantle convection. The process begins when the crust is heated from beneath by upwelling in the mantle sometimes called a mantle plume.