Seafloor Spreading Demonstration

Spreading rates determine if the ridge is fast intermediate or slow.

Seafloor spreading demonstration.

Seafloor spreading theory that oceanic crust forms along submarine mountain zones and spreads out laterally away from them. 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 week i came up with an effective demonstration for modeling the process of seafloor spreading.

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. Using four rectangular labs tables and two bed sheets i created a movable seafloor that can model a divergent boundary and a convergent boundary.