Why do geologists find Iceland a useful place to conduct research on seafloor spreading?
why might geologists find Iceland a useful place to conduct research on seafloor spreading? scientists suggest that differences in density cause hot, plasticlike rock to be forced upward toward the surface, cool, and sink.
How do we know the seafloor is 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 happens during seafloor spreading?
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.
What is the theory of seafloor 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. Rising magma assumes the polarity of Earth’s geomagnetic field before it solidifies into oceanic crust.
Who proposed seafloor spreading theory?
geologist Harry Hess
Which boundaries is seafloor destroyed?
You are correct that the seafloor is destroyed at subduction zones, but it is simultaneously being created at mid-ocean ridges. see figure 1 . Figure 1: Seafloor spreading at a mid-ocean ridge(where new crust is being created) and it’s destruction at a subduction zone.
Which boundaries can produce volcanoes?
The two types of plate boundaries that are most likely to produce volcanic activity are divergent plate boundaries and convergent plate boundaries.
What is an example of transform boundaries?
The most famous example of this is the San Andreas Fault Zone of western North America. The San Andreas connects a divergent boundary in the Gulf of California with the Cascadia subduction zone. Another example of a transform boundary on land is the Alpine Fault of New Zealand.