Processes
Seafloor Spreading
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The formation of new oceanic crust along divergent mid ocean ridges as plates pull apart, balancing the crust lost to subduction elsewhere in a planet-wide conveyor belt. Harry Hess proposed the mechanism in 1962, and its confirmation in the mid to late 1960s is what turned continental drift from a rejected idea into accepted plate tectonics.
Facts
TimescaleOngoing, centimeters per year 1 Driving ForceUpwelling magma at mid-ocean ridges, where new oceanic crust forms and spreads apart as plates diverge. 2 Resulting FeatureProduces new oceanic crust in symmetric magnetic stripes on either side of a mid-ocean ridge, the key evidence for plate tectonics. 2 SignificanceSeafloor spreading, confirmed by seafloor mapping and paleomagnetic stripe evidence, resolved the missing mechanism that had stalled acceptance of continental drift for decades. 2 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Decompression melting of upwelling asthenosphere is the source of mid-ocean ridge basalt.
Marine magnetic anomalies gave clear geophysical evidence for seafloor spreading.
Major rifts run along the central axis of most mid-ocean ridges, where new oceanic crust forms.
The zigzag pattern of oceanic transforms results from oblique seafloor spreading along divergent boundaries.
In Discipline
Precursor To
Confirmation of seafloor spreading in the 1960s is what turned continental drift into accepted plate tectonics.
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