Sea Floor Spreading Activit

This choice is left up to the teacher depending on the reasoning skills of the students.

Sea floor spreading activit.

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. Seafloor spreading and other tectonic activity processes are the result of mantle convection. Once the basalt cools completely into solid rock the. Alternatively this lesson can be taught after the concept of seafloor spreading so the evidence can be put into context.

Displaying top 8 worksheets found for activity seafloor spreading. When taught in series the lessons proceed in much the same way that scientists discovered seafloor spreading and plate tectonics. Convection currents carry heat from the lower mantle and core to the lithosphere. Seafloor spreading is the movement of magma through a crack in a mid oceanic ridge.

This interactive activity is simple to prepare and to execute and allows the students to understand seafloor spreading and the position of newer rock and older rock in relation to. Some of the worksheets for this concept are sea floor spreading work sea floor spreading a model of seafloor spreading inside earth work magnetic reversals activity name date sea floor spreading l 1 2 3 5 4 ovr l lesson 3 seafloor profiling seafloor spreading and subduction. 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. Their crystals are pulled into alignment by the earth s magnetic field just like a compass needle is pulled towards magnetic north.

Seafloor spreading is a geologic process where there is a gradual addition of new oceanic crust in the ocean floor through a volcanic activity while moving the older rocks away from the mid oceanic ridge. Most basalt magmas contain abundant molten iron. Mantle convection is the slow churning motion of earth s mantle. Convection currents also recycle lithospheric materials back to the mantle.

As magma starts to harden into rock iron rich minerals solidify first. The mid ocean ridge is where the seafloor spreading occurs in which tectonic plates large slabs of earth s lithosphere split apart. Spreading rates determine if the ridge is fast intermediate or slow.