Sea Floor Spreading Prosses

Since the new oceanic basins are shallower than the old oceanic basins the total capacity of the world s ocean basins decreases during times of active sea floor spreading.

Sea floor spreading prosses.

Seafloor spreading occurs along mid ocean ridges large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor. These age data also allow the rate of seafloor spreading to be determined and they show that rates. Seafloor spreading is credited for the formation of the red sea as a result of the movement of the arabian and african tectonic plates away from each other. The mid ocean ridge is the region where new oceanic crust is created.

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. The process of seafloor spreading leads to the formation of numerous geographical features which can be terrestrial sub terrestrial or marine features. The oceanic crust is composed of rocks that move away from the ridge as new crust is being formed. The formation of the new crust is due to the rising of the molten material magma from the mantle by convection current.

The differences in spreading rates affect not only the geometries of the ridges but also the geochemistry of the basalts that are produced. See also continental drift a veritable legion of evidence supports the seafloor spreading hypothesis.