Earth Sea Floor Spreading Test

About this quiz worksheet.

Earth sea floor spreading test.

Ocean floor test yourself ocean floor test yourself. A test of the hypothesis of sea floor spreading was provided by studies of the earth s magnetism. This quiz and worksheet can help you gauge your understanding of seafloor spreading and how it occurs. 9 questions by mr diaz last updated.

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. As the ocean seafloor spreads the newly formed floor will adapt a specific magnetic signature according to the earth s magnetic pole at that time. Ocean floor quiz ocean floor quiz. Click here if you are a student at snowflake heber or holbrook to access the susd5 student version of seafloor spreading assignment.

Seafloor spreading occurs along mid ocean ridges large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor. The earth is divided into three layers the atmosphere the lithosphere and the. Spreading rates determine if the ridge is fast intermediate or slow. You will be quizzed on basalts and earth s magnetic field.

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. In this section we are going to take alfred wegener s thoughts a little further. The earth s magnetic field the earth s magnetic field is thought to arise from the movement of liquid iron in the outer core as the planet rotates. See also continental drift a veritable legion of evidence supports the seafloor spreading hypothesis.

The oceanic crust is composed of rocks that move away from the ridge as new crust is being formed. Modeling sea floor spreading lab pdf or google doc sea floor spreading article pdf or google doc pangea puzzle playdough plate tectonics activity pdf or google doc layers of the earth plate tectonics homework packet collected february 12th 2013 guided reading. Spreading rate is the rate at which an ocean basin widens due to seafloor spreading. As years pass lateral segments of seafloor will thus share the same signature on either side of the mid oceanic ridge.

Wherever continents are bordered by deep sea trench systems as in the pacific ocean the ocean floor is plunged downward underthrusting the continents and ultimately reentering and dissolving in earth s mantle from which it had originated. The process of sea floor spreading. The formation of the new crust is due to the rising of the molten material magma from the mantle by convection current. The mid ocean ridge is the region where new oceanic crust is created.

Let s explore another idea called seafloor spreading.