What Evidence Exists For Sea Floor Spreading Explain Read More

When scientists studied patterns in the rocks of the ocean floor they found more support for sea floor spreading.

What evidence exists for sea floor spreading explain read more.

First samples of the deep ocean floor show that basaltic oceanic crust and overlying sediment become progressively younger as the mid ocean ridge is approached and the sediment cover is thinner near the ridge. 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. Seafloor spreading occurs along mid ocean ridges large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor. Alfred wegener a german meteorologist born in 1880 developed the idea of continental drift.

In 1965 a canadian geophysicist j. Evidence from magnetic stripes. 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. Seafloor spreading theory that oceanic crust forms along submarine mountain zones and spreads out laterally away from them.

Tuzo said that earth s crust or lithosphere was divided into large rigid pieces called plates. In plate tectonics a divergent boundary or divergent plate boundary also known as a constructive boundary or an extensional boundary is a linear feature that exists between two tectonic plates that are moving away from each other. The magnetic orientation of the earth is recorded in the igneous rock at the time of its. For instance the atlantic ocean is believed to be expanding because of its few trenches.

Fellow scientists at the time thought the theory was ludicrous. Due to this continuous seafloor spreading occurs and makes atlantic ocean floor to be connected to other continental crust making the ocean gets wider over the time. Surprisingly earth s magnetic poles have reversed themselves many times during earth s history. He suggested that continents moved around the earth like giant rafts.

Supporting evidence for seafloor spreading enter your search terms. Tuzo wilson combined the continental drift and seafloor spreading hypotheses to propose the theory of plate tectonics. Divergent boundaries within continents initially produce rifts which eventually become rift valleys most active divergent plate boundaries occur between oceanic. Plate tectonics theory convection currents and sea floor spreading.