SEAFLOOR

SPREADING
HYPOTHESIS
Objectives:
In the end of this discussion you should be
able to:
1) Discuss the process of sea floor
spreading:
2)Identify the evidence of sea floor is
continuously spreading.
3)describe the structure and evolution of
ocean basin
 Ancient Ideas suggested that the
continents and its landforms were
created due to:

-A big flood

-Expansion of the earth

-Contraction
Alfred Wegener
Alfred
Wegener proposed that
the continents were
once united into a single
supercontinent named
Pangaea, meaning all
earth in ancient Greek.
 Harry Hammond
Hess

Harry Hess published
'The History of Ocean
Basins' in 1962, outlining
a theory of how tectonic
plates can move which
was later called 'sea
floor spreading'.
In 1945, Harry Hess
measured the depth
of the ocean using a
sounding equipment.

Hess discovered
features on the floor
of the ocean that
appears to be
mountains with the
tops flattened.
 Multibeam
Echosounder

A multibeam
echosounder (MBES) is
a type of sonar that is
used to map the seabed.
It emits acoustic waves
in a fan shape beneath
its transceiver.
MOVEMENTS OF
THE CONTINENTS
CAUSED BY
SEAFLOOR
SPREADING
Movements caused by Rising
Magma:
Molten rock (magma) oozes
up from the Earth's interior
along the mid-oceanic
ridges, creating new
seafloor that spreads away
from the active ridge crest
and, eventually, sinks into
the deep oceanic trenches.
Topography of the Seafloor:

The ocean floor slopes

steeply down to the
ocean basin or abyssal
plain. The abyssal plain is
the flat open plain of the
ocean floor. Seamounts are
underwater peaks with
different shaped tops.
Magnetic Striping:
The patterns reflect the creation and spreading of oceanic
crust along the mid-oceanic ridges. Basalt forming at the
ridge crest picks up the existing magnetic polarity.
Divergence then moves the swath of fresh crust away from
the ridge. As long as the magnetic field remains constant, the
polarity “stripe” widens.
OCEAN BASINS
 Ocean Basin

any of several vast submarine

regions that collectively cover
nearly three-quarters of Earth's
surface. Together they contain
the overwhelming majority of all
water on the planet and have an
average depth of almost 4 km
(about 2.5 miles).
 Our evolution

2010
Jupiter is the biggest planet
in the Solar System

Venus has a beautiful name,

but it’s terribly hot
2005
EVOLUTION OF OCEAN
BASIN
 Embryonic Stage

A continent breaks apart because

of the uplift. The uplift is caused
by the rising magma.
 Juvenile Stage

Rift valleys gradually widen and

eventually connect to the ocean.
 Mature Stage
With continued literal spreading of
the rift valley, the divergent plate
boundary widens and additional
oceanic crust is generated.
 Declining Stage
Subduction becomes more
widespread around the border of
the ocean basin
 Terminal Stage
The ocean basin closes through subduction as
continents from opposite sides of the ocean basin bear
down on one another and eventually collide.
 Suturing Stage
Collision of the continents is complete and the
intervening sea is gone.