How is the theory of continental drift related to the theory of plate tectonics?

How is the theory of continental drift related to the theory of plate tectonics?

Plate tectonics is the theory that Earth’s land masses are in constant motion. The realization that Earth’s land masses move was first proposed by Alfred Wegener, which he called continental drift. But the continents actually are shifting, very slowly, relative to one another.

How is continental drift and seafloor spreading associated with each other?

Seafloor spreading helps explain continental drift in the theory of plate tectonics. When oceanic plates diverge, tensional stress causes fractures to occur in the lithosphere. At a spreading center, basaltic magma rises up the fractures and cools on the ocean floor to form new seabed.

Why did the continental drift theory and seafloor spreading theory become the basis for the development of today’s plate tectonics theory?

By combining the sea floor spreading theory with continental drift and information on global seismicity, the new theory of Plate Tectonics became a coherent theory to explain crustal movements. The plate boundaries can be identified because they are zones along which earthquakes occur.

What is the theory of sea floor spreading?

Seafloor spreading, theory that oceanic crust forms along submarine mountain zones, known collectively as the mid-ocean ridge system, and spreads out laterally away from them. …

What is sea floor spreading and what causes it?

Seafloor spreading occurs at divergent plate boundaries. As tectonic plates slowly move away from each other, heat from the mantle’s convection currents makes the crust more plastic and less dense. The less-dense material rises, often forming a mountain or elevated area of the seafloor. Eventually, the crust cracks.

Who discovered the sea floor spreading?

Harry Hess

What is the average rate of seafloor spreading?

These age data also allow the rate of seafloor spreading to be determined, and they show that rates vary from about 0.1 cm (0.04 inch) per year to 17 cm (6.7 inches) per year. Seafloor-spreading rates are much more rapid in the Pacific Ocean than in the Atlantic and Indian oceans.

Which is the best evidence supporting the concept of ocean floor spreading quizlet?

Several types of evidence supported Hess’s theory of sea-floor spreading: eruptions of molten material, magnetic stripes in the rock of the ocean floor, and the ages of the rocks themselves.

How does continental uplift occur?

Orogenic uplift is the result of tectonic-plate collisions and results in mountain ranges or a more modest uplift over a large region. In this process, two continents are sutured together and large mountain ranges are produced.

What does uplift mean in the rock cycle?

Just like sedimentary rocks, metamorphic rocks can be forced to the Earth’s surface too. All this movement can cause rocks that were once underground to be brought up to the Earth’s surface. This process is called uplift.

What is one of the main results of uplift?

Uplift is the process by which the earth’s surface slowly rises either due to increasing upward force applied from below or decreasing downward force (weight) from above. Uplift, forming mountains and plateaus, usually results as these plates crash into each other over millions of years.

Is uplift internal or external?

Terms in this set (6) Internal Heat: melting, heat, pressure, and fluids, and tectonic uplift.

What are the three types of weathering?

Weathering is the breakdown of rocks at the Earth’s surface, by the action of rainwater, extremes of temperature, and biological activity. It does not involve the removal of rock material. There are three types of weathering, physical, chemical and biological.

What process happens before melting?

Heat & Pressure A similar process happens to rocks beneath the earth’s surface. However, before the melting point is reached, a rock can undergo fundamental changes while in a solid state — morphing from one type to another without melting.

What are the 5 processes of the rock cycle?

The key processes of the rock cycle are crystallization, erosion and sedimentation, and metamorphism.

What are the 5 stages of the rock cycle?

As the lava cools it hardens and becomes igneous rock. As soon as new igneous rock is formed, the processes of weathering and erosion begin, starting the whole cycle over again!…When the particles are carried somewhere else, it is called erosion.

• Transportation.
• Deposition.
• Compaction & Cementation.