What would happen if the seafloor stop spreading?
Seafloor spreading can stop during the process, but if it continues to the point that the continent is completely severed, then a new ocean basin is created.
What are the features of seafloor?
Features of the ocean include the continental shelf, slope, and rise. The ocean floor is called the abyssal plain. Below the ocean floor, there are a few small deeper areas called ocean trenches. Features rising up from the ocean floor include seamounts, volcanic islands and the mid-oceanic ridges and rises.
What are the evidence of seafloor spreading?
Abundant evidence supports the major contentions of the seafloor-spreading theory. First, samples of the deep ocean floor show that basaltic oceanic crust and overlying sediment become progressively younger as the mid-ocean ridge is approached, and the sediment cover is thinner near the ridge.
What are the steps in the process of seafloor spreading?
What are the steps in the process of sea floor spreading?
- Magma comes out of the rift valley.
- Magma cools to rock and hardens.
- Rock is pushed away as new rock is formed at MOR.
- Oceanic crust and continental crust meet at the trench.
- Oceanic crust bends down under the continental crust.
- Gravity pulls rock towards mantle.
- Rock melts to mantle.
What are the three steps in seafloor spreading?
Terms in this set (7)
- Magma comes out of the rift valley.
- Magma cools to rock and hardens.
- Rock is pushed away as new rock is formed at MOR.
- Oceanic crust and continental crust meet at the trench.
- Oceanic crust bends down under the continental crust.
- Gravity pulls rock towards mantle.
- Rock melts to mantle.
What are the three types of seafloor spreading?
There are three types of plate-plate interactions based upon relative motion: convergent, where plates collide, divergent, where plates separate, and transform motion, where plates simply slide past each other.
What are three pieces of evidence for seafloor spreading?
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.
Which of the following is not evidence of seafloor spreading?
Harry Hess’s hypothesis about seafloor spreading had collected several pieces of evidence to support the theory. So, the distribution of ice sheets across the planet is not evidence of sea-floor spreading.
What is the relationship between the crust and the lithosphere?
The crust is dragged by the hot plastic fluid in the uppermost mantle, and the lithosphere is formed as only a weak interface between the lower crust and upper mantle lid above the asthenosphere in seismic earth models.
Why is Earth not growing in spite of seafloor spreading?
New crust is continually being pushed away from divergent boundaries (where sea-floor spreading occurs), increasing Earth’s surface. But the Earth isn’t getting any bigger. What happens, then, to keep the Earth the same size? The answer is subduction.
Where in general do most earthquakes occur?
Where do earthquakes occur?
- The world’s greatest earthquake belt, the circum-Pacific seismic belt, is found along the rim of the Pacific Ocean, where about 81 percent of our planet’s largest earthquakes occur.
- The Alpide earthquake belt extends from Java to Sumatra through the Himalayas, the Mediterranean, and out into the Atlantic.
Where is active seafloor spreading occurring today?
Where is active sea floor spreading occurring today? Seafloor spreading is the movement of old rock that is being pushed by the new young oceanic crust. This would be a divergent since the plates are separating from each other. Active seafloor spreading is occurring at mid-ocean ridges.
Which ocean is growing in size which is shrinking explain why this is occurring?
Since subduction rates are much greater than the rates of producing new seafloor at the mid-oceanic ridges, simply because there are more spreading regions than subduction zones, the result is that the Pacific Ocean is shrinking on a geological time scale.
Which ocean is growing in size which is shrinking?
Pacific Ocean
Which ocean is decreasing most in size over time?
Arctic
What are the two types of crust?
Earth’s crust is divided into two types: oceanic crust and continental crust. The transition zone between these two types of crust is sometimes called the Conrad discontinuity. Silicates (mostly compounds made of silicon and oxygen) are the most abundant rocks and minerals in both oceanic and continental crust.
Which type of the crust is thinner?
Oceanic crust
What are the 3 kinds of crust?
Planetary geologists divide crust into three categories, based on how and when they formed.
- Primary crust / primordial crust. This is a planet’s “original” crust.
- Secondary crust. Secondary crust is formed by partial melting of silicate materials in the mantle, and so is usually basaltic in composition.
- Tertiary crust.
What are the two parts of crust What is the basis of classification?
Earth’s crust is the outermost layer. It can be classified into Continental crust and oceanic crust, on the basis of chemical composition. The continental crust is made up of silica and aluminium. Oceanic crust is made up of silica and magnesium.
What is the basis of classification?
Basis of Classification– The characteristics based on which the living organisms can be classified. Characteristic: A distinguishing quality, trait or feature of an individual seen in all members of the same species.
What part of the crust do we live on?
outer crust
How thick is Earth’s crust?
about 30 km
What is Earth’s thickest layer?
core
Where is Earth’s crust thinnest?
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Scientists say they have discovered the thinnest portion of the Earth’s crust — a 1-mile thick, earthquake-prone spot under theAtlantic Ocean where the American and African continents connect.
How far can we drill into the earth?
According to some, this is the entrance to hell. This is the Kola Superdeep Borehole, the deepest manmade hole on Earth and deepest artificial point on Earth. The 40,230ft-deep (12.2km) construction is so deep that locals swear you can hear the screams of souls tortured in hell.