Sea Floor Spreading Made Easy

Two pieces of paper are pulled apart from between two desks or tables while one student marks the pages with bands.

Sea floor spreading made easy.

Two pieces of paper are pulled apart from between two desks or tables while one student marks the pages with bands of color to represent areas of reversed and normal magnetic polarity. The mid ocean ridge is the region where new oceanic crust is created. This idea played a pivotal role in the development of the theory of plate tectonics which revolutionized geologic thought during the last quarter of the 20th century. Follow the instructions on the student worksheet to help get you started with this activity.

In 1912 when alfred wegener proposed that the continents had once been joined together and had split apart the biggest weakness in his hypothesis was the. For this activity you will need to work with a partner or in a group of 3. Spreading rates determine if the ridge is fast intermediate or slow. Seafloor spreading occurs along mid ocean ridges large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor.

During this activity you will investigate sea floor spreading and magnetic reversals. Get pdf 845 kb abstract. Once you have read through the directions and are ready to. At ridges in the middle of oceans new oceanic crust is created.

The mid atlantic ridge for instance separates the north american plate from the eurasian plate and the south american plate from the african plate the east pacific rise is a mid ocean ridge that runs through the eastern pacific ocean and separates the pacific plate from the north american. Sea floor spreading made easy geological society of america. This activity which can be performed by the teacher and an assistant or by students working in pairs shows the mechanism of seafloor spreading. The motivating force for seafloor spreading ridges is tectonic plate pull rather than magma pressure although there is typically significant magma activity at spreading ridges.

7 years ago. The formation of the new crust is due to the rising of the molten material magma from the mantle by convection current. Spreading rate is the rate at which an ocean basin widens due to seafloor spreading. The rate at which new oceanic lithosphere is added to each tectonic plate on either side of a mid ocean ridge is the spreading half rate and is equal to half of the spreading rate.

This activity which can be performed by the teacher and an assistant or by students working in pairs shows the mechanism of seafloor spreading. Seafloor spreading happens at the bottom of an ocean as tectonic plates move apart. Sea floor spreading made easy. The oceanic crust is composed of rocks that move away from the ridge as new crust is being formed.

Sea floor spreading made easy geological society of america. The process of sea floor spreading. It includes background material explaining the layers of earth. Show more documents.