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    Development of A Theory

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    Marjorie Cheston
    Scientists in the 1940s and 1960s made discoveries about the seafloor and mid-ocean ridges that helped develop the theory of seafloor spreading and plate tectonics. They found vast underwater mountain ranges along mid-ocean ridges where new crust forms. As the crust spreads away from the ridges, it cools and older crust moves apart. Studies of magnetic reversals in ocean crust rocks provided evidence that the crust indeed spreads outward from the ridges. This helped explain patterns in the magnetic strips on rocks and supported the idea of plate tectonics and seafloor spreading.

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    Development of A Theory

    Uploaded by

    Marjorie Cheston
    44 views1 page
    Scientists in the 1940s and 1960s made discoveries about the seafloor and mid-ocean ridges that helped develop the theory of seafloor spreading and plate tectonics. They found vast underwater mountain ranges along mid-ocean ridges where new crust forms. As the crust spreads away from the ridges, it cools and older crust moves apart. Studies of magnetic reversals in ocean crust rocks provided evidence that the crust indeed spreads outward from the ridges. This helped explain patterns in the magnetic strips on rocks and supported the idea of plate tectonics and seafloor spreading.

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    some notes on earth sciences

    Original Title

    7.2

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    Scientists in the 1940s and 1960s made discoveries about the seafloor and mid-ocean ridges that helped develop the theory of seafloor spreading and plate tectonics. They found vast underwater mountain ranges along mid-ocean ridges where new crust forms. As the crust spreads away from the ridges, it cools and older crust moves apart. Studies of magnetic reversals in ocean crust rocks provided evidence that the crust indeed spreads outward from the ridges. This helped explain patterns in the magnetic strips on rocks and supported the idea of plate tectonics and seafloor spreading.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    44 views1 page

    Development of A Theory

    Uploaded by

    Marjorie Cheston
    Scientists in the 1940s and 1960s made discoveries about the seafloor and mid-ocean ridges that helped develop the theory of seafloor spreading and plate tectonics. They found vast underwater mountain ranges along mid-ocean ridges where new crust forms. As the crust spreads away from the ridges, it cools and older crust moves apart. Studies of magnetic reversals in ocean crust rocks provided evidence that the crust indeed spreads outward from the ridges. This helped explain patterns in the magnetic strips on rocks and supported the idea of plate tectonics and seafloor spreading.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    of 1

    Development of a Theory

    Mapping the Ocean


    Floor during the late 1940s scientist started to explore the seafloor and trying to determine
    the depth of the ocean with each sounder.
    When they figured out the depths they mad topography maps of the ocean floor.
    The new topography maps revealed vast mountain ranges stretched for many miles
    deep below the oceans surface.
    Mid-ocean ridges: The mountain ranges in the middle of the oceans.
    They are much larger than any mountain ranges on land.

    Seafloor Spreading
    By 1960s scientist discovered helped to explain continental drift.
    Seafloor Spreading: The process by which new oceanic crust for along mid-ocean
    ridge and older oceanic crust moves away from the ridge.
    When the seafloor spreads the mantle below melts and forms magma.
    When lava cools and crystalizes on the seafloor it forms basalt.
    Forms pillow lava
    When sea floor continues to spread apart, the older oceanic crust separates from the
    mid-ocean ridge
    If seafloor spreads the continents must also be moving

    Topography of the
    Seafloor The rugged mountains the make up the mid-ocean ridge can form in two different
    ways.
    One way is when large amounts of lava erupts cool and build up the ridge, or as the
    lava cools it forms new crust and it cracks and the the rocks move up and down aloft
    there cracks of the seafloor formed rugged mountains.
    Sediment accumulates on top of the oceanic crust.
    Close to the ridge there is little sediment, but far from the ridge the sediment build up
    is thick.

    Magnetic Reversals
    Center is a big magnet.
    Normal Polarity: A state in which magnetized objects, such as compass needles, will
    Orient themselves to point north.
    Magnetic Reversal: The magnet fields reverse direction.
    Reversed Polarity: A sate in which magnetized objects would reverse direction and
    orient themselves to point south

    Evidence to Support
    the Theory Scientist studied magnetized rocks on the seafloor and recorded magnetic
    signatures on each rock.
    scientists discovered magnetic strips on the rocks, that formed and magnetized
    during a normal polarity or a reversed polarity.
    This proved that the ocean crust formed at the mid-ocean ridges is carried away from
    the center of the ridges in opposite directions.
    More thermal energy leaves earth near mid-ocean ridges than beneath the abyssal
    plains.

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