Chapter 2: Lesson 2.

4
Deformation of the Earth
Various Methods of Measuring Ocean Depths

a. Sounding line – weighted rope lowered

overboard until it touched the ocean bottom;
this old method is time-consuming and
inaccurate
b. Echo sounding– type of sonar which
measures depth by emitting a burst of high
frequency sound and listening for the echo
from the seafloor. Sound is emitted from a
source on the ship and the returning echo is
detected by a receiver on the ship. Deeper
water means longer time for the echo to
return to the receiver.
c. Satellite altimetry – profiles the shape of
the sea surface by measuring the travel time
of a radar pulse from the satellite to the
ocean surface and back to the satellite
receiver. The shape of the sea surface
approximates the shape of the sea floor.
Different Features of The Ocean Floor
Please watch this video for more information
Features of the Ocean basin (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP380-Iaoos)
a. Continental margin – submerged outer edge of the
continent where continental crust transitions into oceanic
crust
i.Passive or Atlantic type – features a wide, gently sloping
continental shelf (50-200m depth), a steeper continental
slope (3000-4000m depth), and a flatter continental rise.
ii.Active or Pacific type – characterized by a narrow shelf
and slope that descends into a trench or trough
b. Abyssal plains and abyssal hills – abyssal plain is an
extremely flat, sediment-covered stretches of the ocean floor,
interrupted by occasional volcanoes, mostly extinct, called
seamounts. Abyssal hills are elongate hills, typically 50-300m
high and common on the slopes of mid oceanic ridge (Note:
figure above is not a very good representation of abyssal hill).
These hills have their origins as faulted and tilted blocks of
oceanic crust.
c. Mid-ocean ridges – a submarine mountain chain that winds
for more than 65,000 km around the globe. It has a central rift
valley and rugged topography on its flanks. Mid-ocean ridges
are cut and offset at many places by transform faults. The
trace of a transform fault may extend away from either side of
the ridge as a fracture zone which is older and seismically
inactive.
 d. Deep-ocean trenches- narrow, elongated
depressions on the seafloor many of which are adjacent
to arcs of island with active volcanoes; deepest features
of the seafloor.

MARIANAS
TRENCH
e. Seamounts and volcanic islands – submerged
volcanoes are called seamounts while those that rise
above the ocean surface are called volcanic islands.
These features may be isolated or found in clusters or
chains.
SEAFLOOR SPREADING HYPOTHESIS
 
In 1960, Harry Hess advanced the theory of seafloor
spreading. Hess proposed that seafloor separates at mid-
ocean ridges where new crust forms by upwelling magma.
Newly formed oceanic crust moves laterally away from the
ridge with the motion like that of a conveyor belt. Old oceanic
crusts are dragged down at the trenches and re-incorporated
back into the mantle. The process is driven by mantle
convection currents rising at the ridges and descending at the
trenches. This idea is basically the same as that proposed by
Arthur Holmes in 1920.
Proof for Seafloor Spreading
Magnetic stripes on the seafloor: detailed mapping of magnetism
recorded in rocks of the seafloor shows that these rocks recorded
reversals in direction and strength of the Earth’s magnetic field.
Alternating high and low magnetic anomalies run parallel to mid
ocean ridges.
Pattern of magnetic anomalies also matches the pattern of
magnetic reversal already known from studies of continental lava
flows.
•Deep sea drilling results: Age of seafloor forms a symmetric
pattern across the mid-oceanic ridges, age increases with distance
from the oceanic ridge; no seafloor older than 200 million years
could be found, indicating that seafloor is constantly being created
and destroyed
Seafloor Spreading Lecture
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZL5GWaLviY&t=27s)
Theory of Plate Tectonics
 
The concept of plate tectonics was formulated in the 1960s.
According to the theory, Earth has a rigid outer layer, known as
the lithosphere, which is typically about 100 km (60 miles) thick
and overlies a plastic (moldable, partially molten) layer called
the asthenosphere.
Plate Tectonics: Evidence of Pate Movement
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EdsBabSZ4g)
 There are three main types of plate boundaries:

 1. Convergent boundaries: where two plates are colliding.

Subduction zones occur when one or both of the tectonic plates
are composed of oceanic crust. The denser plate is subducted
underneath the less dense plate. The plate being forced under is
eventually melted and destroyed.
 There are three main types of plate boundaries:

2. Divergent boundaries – where two plates are moving apart.

The space created can also fill with new crustal material sourced
from molten magma that forms below. Divergent boundaries can
form within continents but will eventually open up and become
ocean basins.
 There are three main types of plate boundaries:

3. Transform boundaries – where plates slide passed

each other.
For Additional Information please click the following links.

Features of the Ocean basin

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP380-Iaoos)
Seafloor Spreading Lecture
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZL5GWaLviY&t=27s)
Plate Tectonics: Evidence of Pate Movement
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EdsBabSZ4g)