Theory Of Sea Floor Spreading

First proposed in the early 1960s by the american geologist harry h.

Theory of sea floor spreading.

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. The direction iron in ocean rocks points d. Seafloor spreading theory of lithospheric evolution that holds that the ocean floors are spreading outward from vast underwater ridges. To understand the concept of seafloor spreading we must first understand some basic concepts that form the cornerstones for the concept of seafloor spreading.

The plates on either side of the. What evidence supports hess s theory of seafloor spreading. Check all that apply. Seafloor spreading proves that the ocean itself is a site of tectonic activity.

These cornerstones are convectional current theory and paleomagnetism. According to hess s theory what might happen if the magma under a mid ocean ridge cools. As per seafloor spreading theory the mid oceanic ridge is the region where at the crest of oceanic ridges through the rupture of the oceanic crust and the crack continuous new lava eruption thrusts into it consequently pushing the oceanic crust on either side. The age of different rocks on earth s surface e.

These age data also allow the rate of seafloor spreading to be determined and they show that rates. The motivating force for seafloor spreading ridges is tectonic plate slab pull at subduction zones rather than magma pressure although there is typically. In 1912 when alfred wegener proposed that the continents had once been joined together and had split apart the biggest weakness in his hypothesis was the. 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.

When oceanic plates diverge tensional stress causes fractures to occur in the lithosphere. Convection current theory convection current theory is the soul of seafloor spreading theory. Supporters of continental drift originally theorized that the continents moved drifted through unmoving oceans. Hess its major tenets gave great support to the theory of continental drift continental drift geological theory that the relative positions of the continents on the earth s surface have.

Arthur holmes in 1930s discussed the possibility of convection currents. The theory of seafloor spreading. Sea floor spreading theory. 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.

It leads to the formation of new material on the ridge. As upwelling of magma continues the plates continue to diverge a process known as seafloor spreading 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.