The concept of seafloor spreading was put forward by h harry hess an american geologist.
Seafloor spreading theory upsc notes.
He suggested that new sea floor forms at the oceanic ridges and spread outwards from the line of origin.
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Seafloor spreading occurs along mid ocean ridges large mountain ranges rising from the ocean floor.
Theory given by harry hess according to him sea floor spreading occurs in divergent plate boundaries i e.
It opened up a whole new paradigm for the study of geomorphology.
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.
The development towards the theory began in the 1960s with extensive seafloor mapping.
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.
E g tidal forces and centrifugal forces are too small to bring such changes magnetite striping and seafloor spreading pacific ring of fire etc.
It is an improvement over the wegener s continental drift theory and has been considered as the most.
After the second world war the understanding of ocean floor significantly changed.
This theory is based on the 2 principle hypothesis arthur holmes convection current hypothesis and the concept of seafloor spreading advocated by hess.
Tectonic plates move away from each other due to thermal convective currents this leads to fractures and cracks in the earth s oceanic crust which is filled up with magma bubbling up from earth s mantle aesthenosphere.
Seafloor spreading theory mapping of the ocean floor.
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.
Body after mentioning that theory of plate tectonics is an improvement over theory of continental drift divide the body into parts and present evidences facts in favour of your stand.
Sea floor spreading theory is important for the upsc prelim and main exam.
Sea floor spreading notes jenny 1.
Mapping the mid ocean ridge the mid ocean ridge is thelongest chain of mountains in theworld in the 1950s scientist mappedthe mid ocean ridge using sonar sonar is an instrument that usessound waves to measuredistance.
Also the following six developments were instrumental in the formulation of the theory of plate tectonics.
