Sea Floor Spreading Activit

When a divergent boundary occurs in the ocean seafloor spreading is the result.

Sea floor spreading activit.

Seafloor spreading theory that oceanic crust forms along submarine mountain zones and spreads out laterally away from them. As magma starts to harden into rock iron rich minerals solidify first. Seafloor spreading is the movement of magma through a crack in a mid oceanic ridge. Displaying top 8 worksheets found for activity seafloor spreading.

Convection currents also recycle lithospheric materials back to the mantle. The mid ocean ridge is where the seafloor spreading occurs in which tectonic plates large slabs of earth s lithosphere split apart. Spreading rate is the rate at which an ocean basin widens due to seafloor spreading. When taught in series the lessons proceed in much the same way that scientists discovered seafloor spreading and plate tectonics.

Once the basalt cools completely into solid rock the. Mantle convection is the slow churning motion of earth s mantle. 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. Most basalt magmas contain abundant molten iron.

Alternatively this lesson can be taught after the concept of seafloor spreading so the evidence can be put into context. This choice is left up to the teacher depending on the reasoning skills of the students. Seafloor spreading is a geologic process where there is a gradual addition of new oceanic crust in the ocean floor through a volcanic activity while moving the older rocks away from the mid oceanic ridge. Some of the worksheets for this concept are sea floor spreading work sea floor spreading a model of seafloor spreading inside earth work magnetic reversals activity name date sea floor spreading l 1 2 3 5 4 ovr l lesson 3 seafloor profiling seafloor spreading and subduction.

Convection currents carry heat from the lower mantle and core to the lithosphere. 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. Their crystals are pulled into alignment by the earth s magnetic field just like a compass needle is pulled towards magnetic north.