Sea Floor Spreading Mid Ocean Ridge Definition

The process of sea floor spreading.

Sea floor spreading mid ocean ridge definition.

Definition of mid ocean ridge. 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. At ridges in the middle of oceans new oceanic crust is created. At the mid ocean ridge.

The magnetism of mid ocean ridges helped scientists first identify the process of seafloor spreading in the early 20th century. 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. As a general rule fast ridges have spreading opening rates of more than 90 mm year. The formation of the new crust is due to the rising of the molten material magma from the mantle by convection current.

The oceanic crust is composed of rocks that move away from the ridge as new crust is being formed. A chain of underwater mountains along which seafloor spreading occurs. The mid ocean ridge is the region where new oceanic crust is created. You might also like.

Wherever the sea floor is spreading the edges move apart while the. 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. But there is a global mid ocean ridge system which looks like a series of global zippers that the mid atlantic ridge is part of. The motivating force for seafloor spreading ridges is tectonic plate pull rather than magma pressure although there is typically significant magma activity at spreading ridges.

Seafloor spreading happens at the bottom of an ocean as tectonic plates move apart. The seafloor moves and carries continents with it. Spreading rates determine if the ridge is fast intermediate or slow.