Monday, November 9, 2009

Sea Floor Spreading


Sea Floor spreading is an interesting phenomenon. It occurs when 2 oceanic plates are moving apart. Additionally, it helps explain why said plates are moving. When plates move apart, rocks break and form a crack between the plates. Magma then rises through the cracks and seeps out on to the ocean floor. As the magma meets the water, it cools and solidifies, adding to the edges of sideways-moving plates. The magma piles up along the crack and a long chain of mountains will gradually form on the ocean floor, which forms an oceanic ridge, for example the Mid-Atlantic ridge, which, as the name implies, is situated in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

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