How Was Sea Floor Spreading Proven

Age of the seafloor rocks when scientists measured the age of seafloor rocks they found that younger rocks are found closer to the mid ocean ridges and older rocks are found closer to trenches these 2 pieces of evidence support the idea that the sea floor is spreading and that our theory of plate tectonics is valid by showing that the sea floor is not all the same age and is constantly.

How was sea floor spreading proven.

Seafloor spreading theory that oceanic crust forms along submarine mountain zones and spreads out laterally away from them. Spreading rates determine if the ridge is fast intermediate or slow. The mid atlantic ridge for instance separates the north american plate from the eurasian plate and the south american plate from the african plate the east pacific rise is a mid ocean ridge that runs through the eastern pacific ocean and separates the pacific plate from the north american. Tuzo wilson combined the continental drift and seafloor spreading hypotheses to propose the theory of plate tectonics.

These age data also allow the rate of seafloor spreading to be determined and they show that rates. In 1965 a canadian geophysicist j. The formation of the new crust is due to the rising of the molten material magma from the mantle by convection current. Strong evidence of seafloor spreading and plate tectonics.

Paleomagnetism led the revival of the continental drift hypothesis and its transformation into theories of sea floor spreading and plate tectonics. The process of sea floor spreading. The plates move apart carrying the new sea floor with it. The idea that this happens was proposed in the 1960s.

The mid ocean ridge is the region where new oceanic crust is created. As upwelling of magma continues the plates continue to diverge a process known as seafloor spreading samples collected from the ocean floor show that the age of oceanic crust increases with distance from the spreading centre important evidence in favour of this process. Was proven as patterns of magnetic field polarity preserved in seafloor basalt and by age. This idea played a pivotal role in the development of the theory of plate tectonics which revolutionized geologic thought during the last quarter of the 20th century.

Spreading rate is the rate at which an ocean basin widens due to seafloor spreading. The rate at which new oceanic lithosphere is added to each tectonic plate on either side of a mid ocean ridge is the spreading half rate and is equal to half of the spreading rate. Seafloor spreading occurs along mid ocean ridges large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor. Tuzo said that earth s crust or lithosphere was divided into large rigid pieces called plates.

The regions that hold the unique record of earth s magnetic field lie along the mid ocean ridges where the sea floor is spreading.