SEA FLOOR

SPREADING
 Vocabula
Mid-Oceanicry Ridge
• A mid-ocean ridge or mid-oceanic
ridge is an underwater mountain
range, formed by plate tectonics.
Mid-Oceanic Ridge
 Vocabula
Deep-sea Trench
rytrench , any long, narrow,
• also called oceanic
steep-sided depression in the ocean bottom
in which occur the maximum oceanic depths,
approximately 7,300 to more than 11,000
metres.
Deep-sea Trench
 Vocabula
Subduction ry Zone
• is the biggest crash scene on Earth.
These boundaries mark the collision
between two of the planet's tectonic
plates.
Subduction Zone
 Harry
An American scientist who proposed
Hess
the seafloor spreading theory in 1962.
He proved Wegener's basic idea right
and clarifed the mechanism that broke
the once-joined continents into the
seven with which we are familiar.
 Seafloor Spreading
• The Sea floor spreading theory states that new ocean
crust is being created at mid-ocean ridges (which are
large mountain chains underwater) and destroyed at
deep-sea trenches.

• This is a proof that the plates are moving along on a

“conveyor belt” so Wegner’s idea on continent drift
was correct.
Convection currents are the result of differential heating. Lighter
(less dense), warm material rises while heavier (more dense) cool
material sinks. It is this movement that creates circulation patterns
known as convection currents in the atmosphere, in water, and in • It is the force responsible
the mantle of Earth. for driving or moving the
plates
• It occurs within the mantle
of the earth when hot
magma rises and cool
magma sinks
Since magma is hotter and less dense, it is forced
up towards the ocean floor and then cools off
when it touches water.

When the magma hardens, a small amount of

new ocean floor is added to the Earth’s crust. As
more magma rises and cools it pushes the new
sea floor away from the ridge. This process is
called sea floor spreading.
Proof that
Seafloor is
Spreading
 Age of Ocean Floor
1. The oldest ocean floor rocks ever found
are 180 million years old. Remember the
Earth is 4.6 billion years old.This proves
that ocean floor is being destroyed therefore
all ocean floor rocks are young compared to
the age of Earth.
The Difference on the Age of the
Rocks
2. The rocks closest to the ocean ridge
were younger than the rocks found
farther from the ridge. This means that
new rocks are formed at the ridges and
push the older rocks away from the
ridge.
 Magnetic Reversals
Geologists also discovered that
the rocks found at oceanic ridges
showed the magnetic reversals
that the Earth has undergone.
How Magnetic Reversals
• When magma cools, the iron cools into
Occur
the mineral magnetite. It lines up
parallel to the Earth’s present magnetic
field. This iron is like compass needles,
pointing north. So when the rock
hardens, a record of the Earth’s
magnetic field at that time is locked in
stone----so to speak!!
How Magnetic Reversals
• Studies of these magma flows have
Occur
showed a magnetic reversal over
geologic time.

• A magnetic reversal (called a FLIP) is

a change in Earth’s magnetic
field.North pole becomes south pole
and south becomes north.
 How Magnetic Reversals
• A magnetic field that has the same orientation as Earth’s present field
is said to have a normal polarity
Occur
• A magnetic field that is opposite to the present field has reversed
polarity.
 Summary
1. ________ proposed the Seafloor Spreading Theory that supported the
Continental Drift Theory
2. New ___________ is created at mid oceanic ridges.
3. Age of rock ____________ as distance from ridge increases
(____________ rock is at the ridge).
4. _______________ is the force that drives the plate movement.
5. By _____________ or 'flip', we mean the process by which the North
pole is transformed into a South pole and the South pole becomes a North
pole.
Thank