What Is The Process Of Seafloor Spreading?

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What Is The Process Of Seafloor Spreading?

Seafloor spreading is a geologic process in which tectonic plates—large slabs of Earth’s lithosphere—split apart from each other. … As tectonic plates slowly move away from each other heat from the mantle’s convection currents makes the crust more plastic and less dense.Jun 8 2015

What is the first process in seafloor spreading?

1. A long crack in the oceanic crust forms at a mid ocean ridge. 2. Molten material rises and erupts along the ridge.

What is the process of sea floor spreading quizlet?

What is the process of sea-floor spreading? In sea-floor spreading the sea floor spreads apart along both sides of a mid-ocean ridge as new crust is added. As a result the ocean floors move like conveyor belts carrying the continents along with them.

What is the first step of seafloor spreading Brainly?

Answer: Seafloor spreading occurs at divergent plate boundaries. As tectonic plates slowly move away from each other heat from the mantle’s convection currents makes the crust more plastic and less dense. The less-dense material rises often forming a mountain or elevated area of the seafloor.

What is the process subduction?

Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth’s mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate the heavier plate dives beneath the second plate and sinks into the mantle.

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What are the three steps of seafloor spreading?

Terms in this set (7)
  • Magma comes out of the rift valley.
  • Magma cools to rock and hardens.
  • Rock is pushed away as new rock is formed at MOR.
  • Oceanic crust and continental crust meet at the trench.
  • Oceanic crust bends down under the continental crust.
  • Gravity pulls rock towards mantle.
  • Rock melts to mantle.

What is the first step of seafloor spreading a crack forms in oceanic crust?

A crack forms in oceanic crust. Molten rock rises up through oceanic crust. Molten rock solidifies at the center of the ridge. New material pushes older rock away from the ridge.

Which statement describes the cyclic nature of seafloor spreading?

The Statements that describe the cyclic nature of seafloor spreading are as follows New oceanic crust is formed.

Why the process of subduction occurs?

Subduction occurs when two plates collide at a convergent boundary and one plate is driven beneath the other back into the Earth’s interior. … When an oceanic plate collides with a continental plate the denser oceanic plate is bent downward and slides under the edge of the continent.

What is the process of subduction and what does it produce?

Geologists explain that subduction occurs to oceanic plates because they are denser and cooler than continental plates. … This movement causes the overall temperature of the oceanic lithosphere to drop which serves to solidify material found on the underneath side of the plate.

What is the process of mountain formation?

How Are Mountains Formed? The world’s tallest mountain ranges form when pieces of Earth’s crust—called plates—smash against each other in a process called plate tectonics and buckle up like the hood of a car in a head-on collision.

What are evidence of seafloor spreading?

Evidence of Sea Floor Spreading. Harry Hess’s hypothesis about seafloor spreading had collected several pieces of evidence to support the theory. This evidence was from the investigations of the molten material seafloor drilling radiometric age dating and fossil ages and the magnetic stripes.

What is the importance of seafloor spreading?

Significance. 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 are 2 pieces of evidence supporting seafloor spreading?

Several types of evidence from the oceans supported Hess’s theory of sea-floor spreading-evidence from molten material magnetic stripes and drilling samples. This evidence also led sci- entists to look again at Wegener’s theory of continental drift.

What is the steps in the formation of a mid-ocean ridge?

A mid-ocean ridge or mid-oceanic ridge is an underwater mountain range formed by plate tectonics. This uplifting of the ocean floor occurs when convection currents rise in the mantle beneath the oceanic crust and create magma where two tectonic plates meet at a divergent boundary.

How is seafloor spreading in the mid-ocean ridge?

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 statement most accurately describes the theory of seafloor spreading?

What statement most accurately describes the theory of seafloor spreading? a. Oceanic crust continuously forms across the seafloor and is moved by subduction zones toward mid-oceanic ridges where it is consumed.

How does seafloor spreading support the hypothesis of continental drift quizlet?

Explain how seafloor spreading provides a mechanism for continental drift. New ocean lithosphere forms as magma rises to Earth’s surface and solidifies at a mid-ocean ridge. This suggested that if the ocean floor is moving which could push the continents too.

Which statement accurately describes how magnetic stripes in ocean rock provide evidence of seafloor spreading?

Which statement accurately describes how magnetic stripes in ocean rock provide evidence of seafloor spreading? C. The pattern of magnetic strips shows that the seafloor is expanding at mid-ocean ridges.

Which is one piece of evidence of seafloor spreading Brainly?

One piece of evidence of seafloor spreading is a mid-ocean ridge. Explanation: The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a mountain system formed by plate tectonics on the seafloor.

What process happens after subduction?

When one plate sinks into it during subduction it melts into the mantle. … New plates form at tectonic boundaries that are diverging. At these boundaries usually under the ocean two plates pull apart and magma wells up and hardens forming new rock and crust.

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What is the process that causes Earth’s tectonic plates to move?

The heat from radioactive processes within the planet’s interior causes the plates to move sometimes toward and sometimes away from each other. This movement is called plate motion or tectonic shift.

What is the process of subduction quizlet?

In geology subduction is the process that takes place at convergent boundaries by which one tectonic plate moves under another tectonic plate and sinks into the mantle as the plates converge.

What process in Earth’s interior causes subduction and seafloor spreading Brainly?

Seafloor spreading and other tectonic activity processes are the result of mantle convection. Mantle convection is the slow churning motion of Earth’s mantle. Convection currents carry heat from the lower mantle and core to the lithosphere.

What is earthquake process?

Earthquakes are usually caused when underground rock suddenly breaks and there is rapid motion along a fault. This sudden release of energy causes the seismic waves that make the ground shake. … The earthquake is over when the fault stops moving. Seismic waves are generated throughout the earthquake.

What is the process in which crust plunges back into the earth?

When oceanic crust converges with continental crust the denser oceanic plate plunges beneath the continental plate. This process called subduction occurs at the oceanic trenches (figure 6). The entire region is known as a subduction zone. Subduction zones have a lot of intense earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

What is the process of mountain building called Apex?

The process of mountain building is called orogeny.

What is released when tectonic plates move in what form?

Volcanoes

When Earth’s tectonic plates grind past one another enormous amounts of energy can be released in the form of earthquakes. Volcanoes are also often found near plate boundaries because molten rock from deep within Earth—called magma—can travel upward at these intersections between plates.

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How are mountains formed by tectonic plates?

Mountains form where two continental plates collide. Since both plates have a similar thickness and weight neither one will sink under the other. Instead they crumple and fold until the rocks are forced up to form a mountain range. As the plates continue to collide mountains will get taller and taller.

How did Harry Hess prove seafloor spreading?

Hess discovered that the oceans were shallower in the middle and identified the presence of Mid Ocean Ridges raised above the surrounding generally flat sea floor (abyssal plain) by as much as 1.5 km. … This created new seafloor which then spread away from the ridge in both directions.

Seafloor Spreading

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