Sea Floor Spreading Diagram Rift Valley

From rift valley to linear sea to mid ocean ridge with sea floor spreading.

Sea floor spreading diagram rift valley.

Seafloor spreading is a constant geologic phenomenon and a primary driver of continental drift. Rift valley any elongated trough formed by the subsidence of a segment of the earth s crust between dip slip or normal faults. Seafloor spreading theory that oceanic crust forms along submarine mountain zones and spreads out laterally away from them. 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.

Seafloor spreading seafloor spreading is a process that occurs at mid ocean ridges where new oceanic crust is formed through volcanic activity and then gradually moves away from the ridge. Spreading rate is the rate at which an ocean basin widens due to seafloor spreading. The process begins when the crust is heated from beneath by upwelling in the mantle sometimes called a mantle plume. Many existing continental rift valleys are the result of a failed arm of a triple junction although there are two the east african rift and the baikal.

The gulf of aden. This creates a three armed rift called a triple junction usually with each rift at a. Seafloor spreading occurs along mid ocean ridges large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor. Spreading rates determine if the ridge is fast intermediate or slow.

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. A rift valley is a lowland region that forms where earth s tectonic plates move apart or rift rift valleys are found both on land and at the bottom of the ocean where they are created by the process of seafloor spreading rift valleys differ from river valleys and glacial valleys in that they are created by tectonic activity and not the process of erosion. Views from space of the arabian plate the red sea and the gulf of aden brand new sea floor spreading in the red sea from a long ago rift valley. A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift or fault.