Sea Floor Spreading Features

Plate tectonics plate tectonics seafloor spreading.

Sea floor spreading features.

The seabed also known as the seafloor sea floor or ocean floor is the bottom of the ocean no matter how deep. Continental shelf 300 feet continental slope 300 10 000 feet abyssal plain 10 000 feet abyssal hill 3 000 feet up from the abyssal plain seamount 6 000 feet. Seafloor spreading theory that oceanic crust forms along submarine mountain zones and spreads out laterally away from them. Seafloor spreading and rift valleys are common features at triple junctions triple junctions are the intersection of three divergent plate boundaries.

Maps and other data gathered during the war allowed scientists to develop the seafloor spreading hypothesis this hypothesis traces oceanic crust from its origin at a mid ocean ridge to its destruction at a deep sea trench and is the mechanism for continental drift. Review questions describe how sound waves are used to develop a map of the features of the seafloor. Since the seafloor on each side of a midocean ridge moves in opposite directions each side belongs to a different lithospheric plate. The following features are shown at example depths to scale though each feature has a considerable range at which it may occur.

As upwelling of magma continues the plates continue to diverge a process known as seafloor spreading. The triple junction is the central point where three cracks boundaries split off at about 120 angles from each other. All floors of the ocean are known as seabeds. Subduction and sea floor spreading are processes that could alter the size and form of the ocean.

The process that continually adds new material to the ocean floor is seafloor spreading and the continental slope. For instance the atlantic ocean is believed to be expanding because of its few trenches. In detail midocean ridges are made up of short offset segments. This graphic shows several ocean floor features on a scale from 0 35 000 feet below sea level.

World war ii gave scientists the tools to find the mechanism for continental drift that had eluded wegener. Midocean ridges transform faults and fracture zones are the key surface features produced by seafloor spreading. 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. Seafloor spreading processes create new oceanic crust at mid ocean ridges and destroy older crust at deep sea trenches.

The red sea has not yet completely split arabia from africa but a similar feature can be found on the other side of africa that has broken completely free. These age data also allow the rate of seafloor spreading to be. Seafloor spreading can stop during the process but if it continues to the point that the continent is completely severed then a new ocean basin is created.