What Causes The Ocean Floor To Separate And Grow

The magma that rises from below these ridges lifts the ocean floor.

What causes the ocean floor to separate and grow.

Mid ocean ridges circle the earth like the seams on a giant baseball. A transform plate boundary is characterized by. Continental shelf 300 feet continental slope 300 10 000 feet abyssal plain 10 000 feet abyssal hill 3 000 feet up from the abyssal plain seamount 6 000 feet. The mid atlantic ridge like other ocean ridge systems has developed as a consequence of the divergent motion between the eurasian and north american and african and south american.

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. Basalt the once molten rock that makes up most new oceanic crust is a fairly magnetic substance and scientists began using magnetometers to measure the magnetism of the ocean floor in the 1950s what they discovered was that the magnetism of the ocean floor around. They are also known as spreading centers or divergent plate boundaries. This increase in temperature causes glaciers to melt and sea levels and temperatures to rise which causes different weather patterns and severe weather like hurricanes and changes the climate.

Climate change affects marine primary productivity as the increased temperatures and amounts of sunlight result in a lower level of productivity. A deep vertical fault along which two plates slide past one another in opposite directions. The magnetism of mid ocean ridges helped scientists first identify the process of seafloor spreading in the early 20th century. Sea floor also uplifts along mid ocean ridges where crust separated as magma melted rock from inside the earth tries to reach the surface.

The ocean ridge rises to between 2 to 3 km above the ocean floor and has a rift valley at its crest marking the location at which the two plates are moving apart. Most ocean basin rocks and sediments are cretaceous or younger in age. Mid ocean ridges cause the ocean floor to separate and grow. This graphic shows several ocean floor features on a scale from 0 35 000 feet below sea level.

Back in 1977 a very interesting discovery was made on the deep ocean floor where no light penetrates. The following features are shown at example depths to scale though each feature has a considerable range at which it may occur.