Floor Spreading Definition

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.

Floor spreading definition.

Seafloor spreading occurs along mid ocean ridges large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor. 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. The oceanic crust is composed of rocks that move away from the ridge as new crust is being formed. That means the rock in the center is the youngest.

The mid ocean ridge is the region where new oceanic crust is created. Spreading rate is the rate at which an ocean basin widens due to seafloor spreading. 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. Sea floor spreading synonyms sea floor spreading pronunciation sea floor spreading translation english dictionary definition of sea floor spreading.

Wherever the sea floor is spreading the edges move apart while the magma in the middle hardens. A series of processes in which new oceanic lithosphere is created at oceanic ridges. 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.

Ocean floor spreading definition. 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 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. Spreading rates determine if the ridge is fast intermediate or slow.

Meaning pronunciation translations and examples. 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.