Table of Contents
Where does seafloor occur and created?
mid-ocean ridges
Seafloor spreading or Seafloor spread is a process that occurs at mid-ocean ridges, where new oceanic crust is formed through volcanic activity and then gradually moves away from the ridge.
What happens to the seafloor?
Sea-floor spreading is what happens at the mid-oceanic ridge where a divergent boundary is causing two plates to move away from one another resulting in spreading of the sea floor. As the plates move apart, new material wells up and cools onto the edge of the plates.
How are sea floors formed?
Bathymetry, the shape of the ocean floor, is largely a result of a process called plate tectonics. Where plates diverge from each other, molten magma flows upward between the plates, forming mid-ocean ridges, underwater volcanoes, hydrothermal vents, and new ocean floor crust.
What happens as the seafloor spreads apart?
In sea-floor spreading, the sea floor spreads apart along both sides of a mid-ocean ridge as new crust is added. As a result, the ocean floors move like conveyor belts, carrying the continents along with them.
Can seafloor spreading cause earthquakes?
Volcanic activity causes the seafloor to spread along oceanic ridges, forming new areas of crust and mantle. After being generated, this new oceanic lithosphere cools down and contracts by up to 3% of its own volume. This contraction can trigger oceanic earthquakes.
What is the process of plate tectonics?
The theory of plate tectonics states that the Earth’s solid outer crust, the lithosphere, is separated into plates that move over the asthenosphere, the molten upper portion of the mantle. Oceanic and continental plates come together, spread apart, and interact at boundaries all over the planet.
How does tectonic plates cause earthquakes?
The tectonic plates are always slowly moving, but they get stuck at their edges due to friction. When the stress on the edge overcomes the friction, there is an earthquake that releases energy in waves that travel through the earth’s crust and cause the shaking that we feel.