Floor Spreading Definition

That means the rock in the center is the youngest.

Floor spreading definition. Spreading rates determine if the ridge is fast intermediate or slow. As the continents move apart whole new oceans. The oceanic crust is composed of rocks that move away from the ridge as new crust is being formed. Seafloor spreading occurs along mid ocean ridges large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor.

In the theory of plate tectonics the process by which new oceanic crust is formed by the convective upwelling of magma at mid ocean ridges resulting in. Seafloor spreading definition a process in which new ocean floor is created as molten material from the earth s mantle rises in margins between plates or ridges and spreads out. This spreading creates a successively younger ocean floor and the flow of material is thought to bring about the migration or drifting apart of the continents. The process of sea floor spreading.

The formation of the new crust is due to the rising of the molten material magma from the mantle by convection current. A series of processes in which new oceanic lithosphere is created at oceanic ridges. Seafloor spreading definition is the divergence at mid ocean ridges of the tectonic plates underlying the oceans that is due to upwelling from the earth s interior of magma which solidifies and adds to the spreading plates. Wherever the sea floor is spreading the edges move apart while the magma in the middle hardens.

The rate at which new oceanic lithosphere is added to each tectonic plate on either side of a mid ocean ridge is the spreading half rate and is equal to half of the spreading rate. The youngest crust of the ocean floor can be found near the seafloor spreading centers or mid ocean ridges as the plates split apart magma rises from below the earth s surface to fill in the empty void. The continents bordering the atlantic ocean for example are believed to be moving away from the mid atlantic ridge at a rate of 1 2 cm 0 4 0 8 inch per year thus increasing. Meaning pronunciation translations and examples.

Spreading rate is the rate at which an ocean basin widens due to seafloor spreading. Ocean floor spreading definition.