What Evidence Exists For Sea Floor Spreading Explain Read More

Surprisingly earth s magnetic poles have reversed themselves many times during earth s history.

What evidence exists for sea floor spreading explain read more. Plate tectonics theory convection currents and sea floor spreading. Supporting evidence for seafloor spreading enter your search terms. Tuzo said that earth s crust or lithosphere was divided into large rigid pieces called plates. 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.

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. Tuzo wilson combined the continental drift and seafloor spreading hypotheses to propose the theory of plate tectonics. 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. Evidence from magnetic stripes.

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. Alfred wegener a german meteorologist born in 1880 developed the idea of continental drift. In 1965 a canadian geophysicist j. Subduction and sea floor spreading are processes that could alter the size and form of the ocean.

The magnetic orientation of the earth is recorded in the igneous rock at the time of its. 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. Seafloor spreading occurs along mid ocean ridges large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor. Seafloor spreading theory that oceanic crust forms along submarine mountain zones and spreads out laterally away from them.

Divergent boundaries within continents initially produce rifts which eventually become rift valleys most active divergent plate boundaries occur between oceanic. He suggested that continents moved around the earth like giant rafts. The evidence exists in the extrusive igneous rock basalt on the ocean floor near the mid oceanic ridges. Fellow scientists at the time thought the theory was ludicrous.