SEAFLOOR SPREADING THEORY

CONTINENTAL DRIFT BECAME BLURRY BECAUSE WEGENER

WASN’T ABLE TO EXPLAIN HOW THIS DRIFTING TOOK PLACE.

DURING THE 1950s AND 1960s, NEW

TECHNIQUES AND MODERN GADGETS
ENABLED SCIENTISTS TO MAKE BETTER
OBSERVATIONS AND GATHER NEW
INFORMATION ABOUT THE OCEAN FLOOR.

USING SONARS AND SUBMERSIBLES, THEY

HAVE DISCOVERED UNDERWATER
FEATURES CALLED MID-OCEAN RIDGES.
SEAFLOOR SPREADING THEORY

IN EARLY 1960’S, SCIENTIST HARRY HESS,

TOGETHER WITH ROBERT DIETZ,
SUGGESTED AN EXPLANATION TO THE
CONTINENTAL DRIFT. THIS IS THE
SEAFLOOR SPREADING.

ACCORDING TO THIS THEORY , HOT, LESS

DENSE MATERIAL FROM BELOW THE
EARTH’S CRUST RISES TOWARDS THE
SURFACE AT THE MIDGE OCEAN RIDGE.
THE MAGMA FLOWS SIDEWAYS CARRYING THE SEAFLOOR AWAY
FROM THE RIDGE, AND CREATES A CRACK IN THE CRUST.

THE MAGMA FLOWS OUT OF THE CRACK, COOLS DOWN AND

BECOMES THE NEW SEAFLOOR

OVERTIME, THE NEW OCEANIC CRUST PUSHED THE OLD CRUST

FAST FROM THE RIDGE. THIS PROCESS OF SEAFLOOR SPREADING
ALLOWED THE CREATION OF NEW BODIES OF WATER.
IN THE PLACE WHERE TWO OCEANIC PLATES COLLIDE OR WHERE AN
OCEANIC PLATE AND CONTINENTAL PLATE COLLIDE, A SUBDUCTION
OCCURS.

AS THE NEW SEAFLOOR IS FORMED AT THE MID-OCEAN RIDGE, THE

OLD SEAFLOOR FARTHEST FROM THE RIDGE IS DESTROYED AT THE
SUBDUCTION ZONE.
MAGNETIC REVERSAL

MAGNETIC REVERSAL IS ALSO CALLED MAGNETIC ‘FLIP’ OF THE

EARTH.
IT HAPPENS WHEN THE NORTH POLE IS TRANSFORMED INTO A
SOUTH POLE AND THE SOUTH POL IS TRANSFORMED INTO A NORTH
POLE.
THIS IS DUE TO THE CHANGE IN THE DIRECTION OF FLOW IN THE
OUTER CORE.
 BECAUSE OF MAGNETIC STRIPES, WE ARE
ABLE TO:

DETERMINE HOW OLD IS THE SEAFLOOR AND WHEN WAS THE

LAST TIME THE MAGNETIC FIELD WAS REVERSED.

DETERMINE HOW FAST THE SEAFLOOR SPREADS.

PLATE TECTONIC THEORY
THE PLATE TECTONIC THEORY SUGGESTS THAT THE EARTH’S
LITHOSPHERE IS DIVIDED INTO SEVERAL PLATES, AND THAT THESE
PLATE RIDE OVER THE WEAK ASTHENOSPHERE AND ARE IN
CONSTANT MOTION.
CONVECTION CURRENT

AS A SUBSTANCE LIKE
WATER IS HEATED, THE
LESS DENSE PARTICLES
RISE WHILE THE DENSER
PARTICLES SINK. ONCE HOT
LESS DENSE PARTICLES
COOL DOWN, THEY SINK,
AND THE OTHER LESS
PARTICLES RISE.

THIS CONTINUOUS PROCESS

IS CALLED THE
CONVECTION CURRENT.
1. He was credited for the idea on Continental Drift Theory.
a. Aldred Lothar Wegener c. Harry Hammond Hess
b. Charles Darwin d. Robert Dietz
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