Sea Floor Spreading Mid Atlantic Ridge

Geologists can get a rough estimate of the spreading rate i e.

Sea floor spreading mid atlantic ridge.

Seafloor spreading occurs along mid ocean ridges large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor. 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. Seafloor spreading was proposed by an american geophysicist harry h. The south atlantic ocean formed by seafloor spreading at the mid atlantic ridge.

The dates revealed that the atlantic ocean was opening by seafloor spreading from the mid atlantic ridge at a rate of about 0 02 metres per year. By the use of the sonar hess was able to map the ocean floor and discovered the mid atlantic ridge mid ocean ridge. The rate at which south america and africa are moving apart by measuring the distance between the 2 continents in a direction parallel to oceanic fracture zones. 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.

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.