Evidence That The Ocean Floor Is Spreading

Measurements indicate that new crust moves away from a ridge at.

Evidence that the ocean floor is spreading.

Eruptions of molten material magnetic stripes in the rock of the ocean floor and the ages of the rocks themselves. The magnetism of mid ocean ridges helped scientists first identify the process of seafloor spreading in the early 20th century. In the 1960s geologist harry hess proposed that the sea floor was moving outward from the midoceanic ridges. See also continental drift a veritable legion of evidence supports the seafloor spreading hypothesis.

Subduction and sea floor spreading are processes that could alter the size and form of the ocean. It is suggested that the entire history of the ocean basins in terms of oceanfloor spreading is contained frozen in the oceanic crust. This evidence led scientists to look again at wegener s hypothesis of continental drift. Basalt the once molten rock that makes up most new oceanic crust is a fairly magnetic substance and scientists began using magnetometers to measure the magnetism of the ocean floor in the 1950s what they discovered was that the magnetism of the ocean floor around.

Wherever continents are bordered by deep sea trench systems as in the pacific ocean the ocean floor is plunged downward underthrusting the continents and ultimately reentering and dissolving in earth s mantle from which it had originated. Due to this continuous seafloor spreading occurs and makes atlantic ocean floor to be connected to other continental crust making the ocean gets wider over the time. Evidence for sea floor spreading. For instance the atlantic ocean is believed to be expanding because of its few trenches.