Question

Why was mapping the ocean floor such an important step in the development of plate tectonic theory?

Answer 1

Answer:

Explanation Earth’s Tectonic Plates

Seafloor and continents move around on Earth’s surface, but what is actually moving? What portion of the Earth makes up the “plates” in plate tectonics? This question was also answered because of technology developed during war times – in this case, the Cold War. The plates are made up of the lithosphere.

A map of the world with all earthquakes from 1963 to 1998 plotted. The earthquakes all line up around the plate boundaries.

. Earthquakes outline the plates.

During the 1950s and early 1960s, scientists set up seismograph networks to see if enemy nations were testing atomic bombs. These seismographs also recorded all of the earthquakes around the planet. The seismic records could be used to locate an earthquake’s epicenter, the point on Earth’s surface directly above the place where the earthquake occurs.

Earthquake epicenters outline the plates. Mid-ocean ridges, trenches, and large faults mark the edges of the plates, and this is where earthquakes occur .

The lithosphere is divided into a dozen major and several minor plates . The plates’ edges can be drawn by connecting the dots that mark earthquakes’ epicenters. A single plate can be made of all oceanic lithosphere or all continental lithosphere, but nearly all plates are made of a combination of both.

Map of lithospheric plates

The lithospheric plates and their names. The arrows show whether the plates are moving apart, moving together, or sliding past each other.

Movement of the plates over Earth’s surface is termed plate tectonics. Plates move at a rate of a few centimeters a year, about the same rate fingernails grow.:

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