Earth Structure and Plate Tectonics - The Breakthrough: From Seafloor Spreading to Plate Techtonics
3 important questions on Earth Structure and Plate Tectonics - The Breakthrough: From Seafloor Spreading to Plate Techtonics
What are convection currents?
Slowflowing circuits of material within the mantle.
What was the new hypothesis called 'seafloor spreading'?
If the mid-ocean ridges were spreading centers and sources of new ocean floor rising from the asthenosphere, then they should be hot. And that was true! They were found to be the lines of volcanoes. If the new oceanic crust cooled as it moved from the spreading center, then it should shrink in volume and become denser, and the ocean should be deeper farther from the spreading center. Sediments at the edges of the ocean basin should be thicker than those near the spreading centers and also older. All true.
How is plate movement caused?
It is caused by two forces:
- Plates form and slide off the raised ridges of the spreading centers.
- Plates are pulled downward into the mantle by their cool, dens leading edges, also by gravity.
- Plates form and slide off the raised ridges of the spreading centers.
- Plates are pulled downward into the mantle by their cool, dens leading edges, also by gravity.
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