Sea Floor Spreading

Question- What is the ‘Ocean or Sea Floor Spreading’? Give evidence in support of Sea Floor Spreading.

Sea Floor Spreading

Structure-

1. Write Introduction- Give a definition of Sea floor spreading and how seafloor spreads.

2. Main Body- Enumerate evidence in support of seafloor spreading.

3. Conclusion- Write a suitable conclusion for your answer.

Model Answer-

INTRODUCTION:

The theory of Sea Floor Spreading was given by Harry Hess. According to him in the middle of the ocean trenches are developing and the oceanic crust is moving away from each other on either side of the crust because these volcanic eruptions occur at the crust. The lava gets deposited on the oceanic crust and a new landmass is created. The oceanic floor gets pushed due to volcanic eruptions at the crust and sinks down at the oceanic trenches and gets consumed due to high temperatures in mental. In this way, the oceanic floor is moving as a conveyer belt, and therefore the development and destruction of the ocean floor is a continuous process.

MAIN BODY: Evidence in favor of Sea Floor Spreading•

• Continuous volcanic eruption along the mid-oceanic ridge, bringing a huge amount of lava to the surface in this area.
• Rocks closer to the mid-oceanic ridges are younger and the age of the rock increases as one moves away from the crest.
• Oceanic crust rocks are much younger than continental rocks.
• Oceanic through is near the coast.
• The remarkable similarity in the magnetic properties is the most scientific evidence of seafloor spreading.
• The strength of the geomagnetic field is alternately anomalously high and low with increasing distance away from the axis of the mid-ocean ridge system
• The direction of magnetism is opposite in the alternate magnetic system. Due to this reason, the magnetic poles are opposite to each other. It occurs every 4-5 lakh years.
• In the past 76 million years the magnetic poles have interchanged for 171 times.

CONCLUSION:

Continental drift theory and Seafloor spreading both have provided a base for the plate tectonic theory. This has helped in understanding the development and distribution of various relief features in the earth’s crust also it has helped in understanding the mystery behind the occurrence of earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis, and various other natural calamities.

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