Sea Floor Spreading And And Ocean Age

The magnetism of mid ocean ridges helped scientists first identify the process of seafloor spreading in the early 20th century.

Sea floor spreading and and ocean age.

This has happened many times throughout earth s history. Ages for ocean floor between the oldest identified magnetic anomalies and continental crust are interpolated by geological estimates of the ages of passive continental margin segments. 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. Every once in a while the currents in the liquid core which create the earth s magnetic field reverse themselves.

Hydrothermal vents are common at spreading centers. Scientists can determine the age of the seafloor by examining the changing magnetic field of our planet. The oldest seafloor is near the edges of continents or deep sea trenches and is less than 180 million years old. Basalt the once molten rock that makes up most new oceanic crust is a fairly magnetic substance and scientists began using magnetometer s to measure the magnetism of the ocean floor in the 1950s.

At spreading rates of about 15 cm 6 inches per year the entire crust beneath the pacific ocean about 15 000 km 9 300 miles wide could be produced in 100 million years. Since the oldest ocean crust is so much younger than the oldest continental crust scientists realized that seafloor was being destroyed in a relatively short time. Because of this correlation between age and subduction potential very little ocean floor is older than 125 million years and almost none of it is older than 200 million years. Seafloor spreading theory that oceanic crust forms along submarine mountain zones known collectively as the mid ocean ridge system and spreads out laterally away from them.

Therefore seafloor dating isn t that useful for studying plate motions beyond the cretaceous. At a spreading center basaltic magma rises up the fractures and cools on the ocean floor to form new seabed. For that geologists date and study continental crust. The age spreading rate and asymmetry at each grid node is determined by linear interpolation between adjacent seafloor isochrons in the direction of spreading.

35 outstanding facts about the planet earth. Seafloor spreading leads to the renewal of the ocean floor in every 200 million years a period of time for building a mid ocean ridge moving away across the ocean and subduction into a trench. Seafloor spreading rates are much more rapid in the pacific ocean than in the atlantic and indian oceans.