Seafloor Spreading Theory Was Forwarded By

The vine matthews morley hypothesis also known as the morley vine matthews hypothesis was the first key scientific test of the seafloor spreading theory of continental drift and plate tectonics its key impact was that it allowed the rates of plate motions at mid ocean ridges to be computed.

Seafloor spreading theory was forwarded by.

In 1967 mckenzie and parker suggested the theory of plate tectonics. Morgan later outlined the theory in 1968. 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 was proposed by an american geophysicist harry h.

In 1963 both the geophysicist frederick j. Sea floor spreading theory. Seafloor spreading occurs along mid ocean ridges large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor. 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.

He suggested that new sea floor forms at the oceanic ridges and spread outwards from the line of origin. It states that the earth s oceanic crust acts as a recorder of reversals in the geomagnetic. Seafloor spreading helps explain continental drift in the theory of plate tectonics. The theory of seafloor spreading the mid ocean ridge is where the seafloor spreading occurs in which tectonic plates large slabs of earth s lithosphere split apart from each other.

When oceanic plates diverge tensional stress causes fractures to occur in the lithosphere. The motivating force for seafloor spreading ridges is tectonic plate slab pull at subduction zones rather than magma pressure although there is typically. The concept of seafloor spreading was put forward by h harry hess an american geologist. Further he claimed that continents would be pushed aside by the same forces that cause the ocean to grow.

It leads to the formation of new material on the ridge. The concept of sea floor spreading. Morley independently realized that if the seafloor spreading theory was correct then the rocks surrounding mid oceanic ridges should show symmetric. 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.

Seafloor spreading theory that oceanic crust forms along submarine mountain zones known collectively as the mid ocean ridge system and spreads out laterally away from them. Back in 1957 marie tharp found enigmatic alignments in the shape of the seafloor around the center of the atlantic ocean roughly where seismicity was being detected. Vine and the geologist lawrence w.