what is sea floor spriading?
Answers
Answer:
Seafloor spreading is a geologic process in which tectonic plates—large slabs of Earth's lithosphere—split apart from each other. ... Seafloor spreading and other tectonic activity processes are the result of mantle convection
Answer + Explanation:
Seafloor spreading is a geologic process in which tectonic plates—large slabs of Earth's lithosphere—split apart from each other. ... As tectonic plates slowly move away from each other, heat from the mantle's convection currents makes the crust more plastic and less dense.
Significance. 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.
Sea floor sediment provide an invaluable key to past climate change. Finely varved sediments from areas of rapid deposition provide a high-resolution record of past climate variation, and volcanic ash layers contribute to the comprehensive study of climate change on relatively short timescales.
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.