What are the steps in the process of seafloor spreading?

Seafloor spreading is a process that occurs at mid-ocean ridges, where new oceanic crust is formed through volcanic activity and then gradually moves away from the ridge. The process starts by heating at the base of the continental crust which causes it to become more plastic and less dense.

How would you describe the process of seafloor spreading?

What Happens During the Process of Seafloor Spreading? History. Scientists originally believed that drifting was an occurrence exclusive to continents through continental drifts. Geographic Features. The process of seafloor spreading leads to the formation of numerous geographical features which can be terrestrial, sub-terrestrial, or marine features. Mid-Ocean Ridges.

How does sea floor spreading create a new ocean floor?

Seafloor Spreading is the usual process at work at divergent plate boundaries , leading to the creation of new ocean floor. As two tectonic plates slowly separate, molten material rises up from within the mantle to fill the opening. In this way the rugged volcanic landscape of a mid-ocean ridge is created along the plate boundary.

What is the result of sea floor spreading?

In sea-floor spreading, the sea floor spreads apart along both sides of a mid-ocean ridge as new crust is added. As a result, the ocean floors move like conveyor belts, carrying the continents along with them.

Terms in this set (7)

1. Magma comes out of the rift valley.
2. Magma cools to rock and hardens.
3. Rock is pushed away as new rock is formed at MOR.
4. Oceanic crust and continental crust meet at the trench.
5. Oceanic crust bends down under the continental crust.
6. Gravity pulls rock towards mantle.
7. Rock melts to mantle.

What causes the seafloor to spread quizlet?

During sea-floor spreading, magma erupts along a mid-ocean ridge to form new oceanic lithosphere. The floor then moves away from the ridge, often toward a trench at the edge of the ocean basin. The pattern shows that ocean floor forms along mid-ocean ridges and then moves away from the ridge.

Where does subduction spreading occur?

Where does subduction occur? This process occurs along convergent boundaries and areas called deep ocean trenches.

What causes subduction?

Subduction occurs when two plates collide at a convergent boundary, and one plate is driven beneath the other, back into the Earth’s interior. When an oceanic plate collides with a continental plate, the denser oceanic plate is bent downward and slides under the edge of the continent.

What plate boundary causes subduction?

convergent plate boundaries
Subduction zones are where the cold oceanic lithosphere sinks back into the mantle and is recycled. They are found at convergent plate boundaries, where the oceanic lithosphere of one plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of another plate.

What’s the first step of seafloor spreading?

1. A long crack in the oceanic crust forms at a mid ocean ridge. 2. Molten material rises and erupts along the ridge.

Which is the first step in the seafloor spreading process quizlet?

As the seafloor spreading occurs, the continents move. How does oceanic crust move along mid-ocean ridges? Which is the first step in the seafloor spreading process? A crack forms in oceanic crust.

What causes subduction to occur?

Subduction occurs when two plates collide at a convergent boundary, and one plate is driven beneath the other, back into the Earth’s interior. Not all convergence leads to subduction. Continental rocks are too buoyant to be forced downward, so when continents collide, they crumple but stay at the surface.

What emerges from fissures causing sea floor spreading?

In the ocean, volcanoes erupt along cracks that are opened in the ocean floor by the spreading of two plates called a mid-ocean ridge . Magma from Earth’s upper mantle rises up to fill these cracks. As the lava cools, it forms new crust on the edges of the cracks.

How does subduction cause the formation of land mass?

When the other plate is forced down the process is called subduction. The plate enters into the magma and eventually it is completely melted. That is how the surface of the earth makes way for the crust created over time at other plate boundaries. These pockets of magma find paths to the surface and create volcanoes.

What is subduction process?

A tectonic process in which one tectonic plate is forced beneath another and sinks into the mantle as the plates converge.

What is the difference between subduction and seafloor spreading?

Seafloor spreading is just one part of plate tectonics. Subduction is another. Subduction happens where tectonic plates crash into each other instead of spreading apart. At subduction zones, the edge of the denser plate subducts, or slides, beneath the less-dense one. The denser lithospheric material then melts back into the Earth’s mantle.

What is the difference between sea floor spreading and mantle convection?

Seafloor spreading is a geologic process in which tectonic plates—large slabs of Earth’s lithosphere—split apart from each other. Seafloor spreading and other tectonic activity processes are the result of mantle convection. Mantle convection is the slow, churning motion of Earth’s mantle.

How does seafloor spreading disprove the theory of continental drift?

Seafloor spreading disproves an early part of the theory of continental drift. Supporters of continental drift originally theorize d that the continents moved (drifted) through unmoving oceans. Seafloor spreading proves that the ocean itself is a site of tectonic activity. Seafloor spreading is just one part of plate tectonics.

How does seafloor spreading separate the stripes of the crust?

The continual process of seafloor spreading separated the stripes in an orderly pattern. Oceanic crust slowly moves away from mid-ocean ridges and sites of seafloor spreading. As it moves, it becomes cooler, more dense, and more thick.