Sea Floor Spreading Lessonsn

The process by which the ocean floor sinks beneath a deep ocean trench and back into the mantle.

Sea floor spreading lessonsn.

Since the new oceanic basins are shallower than the old oceanic basins the total capacity of the world s ocean basins decreases during times of active sea floor spreading. This choice is left up to the teacher depending on the reasoning skills of the students. Seafloor spreading subduction and megathrust earthquakes geo 3 2 pangaea sea floor spreading seafloor spreading and subduction. When taught in series the lessons proceed in much the same way that scientists discovered seafloor spreading and plate tectonics.

Mid ocean ridges that add new material to the ocean floor. Alternatively this lesson can be taught after the concept of seafloor spreading so the evidence can be put into context. 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. The differences in spreading rates affect not only the geometries of the ridges but also the geochemistry of the basalts that are produced.

Wherever continents are bordered by deep sea trench systems as in the pacific ocean the ocean floor is plunged downward underthrusting the continents and ultimately reentering and dissolving in earth s mantle from which it had originated. Seafloor spreading occurs along mid ocean ridges large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor.