What is formed by seafloor spreading?

Seafloor spreading happens at the bottom of an ocean as tectonic plates move apart. The seafloor moves and carries continents with it. At ridges in the middle of oceans, new oceanic crust is created. Seafloor spreading helps explain continental drift in plate tectonics.

What kind of rock is the seafloor made of?

volcanic rock
The seafloor is made of volcanic rock that solidified from magma and/or lava.

What is the most common rock on the seafloor?

basalt
As it turns out, most of the ocean floor is basalt, and most of the continents are granite.

What are the types of seafloor spreading?

There are three types of plate-plate interactions based upon relative motion: convergent, where plates collide, divergent, where plates separate, and transform motion, where plates simply slide past each other.

Who proposed the seafloor spreading theory?

Harry Hess
Harry Hess: One of the Discoverers of Seafloor Spreading.

How seafloor spreading occurs in the mid-ocean ridge and the formation of the new oceanic crust?

At mid-ocean ridges, tectonic plates move apart and seafloor spreading occurs. It then cools and solidifies in the center of the ridge. The rising magma pushes up between the plates and drives them further apart. As new crust is forming at the spreading center, it pushes the older crust apart.

Which best describe seafloor spreading?

Seafloor spreading is a geologic process in which tectonic plates—large slabs of Earth’s lithosphere—split apart from each other. Seafloor spreading is a geologic process in which tectonic plates—large slabs of Earth’s lithosphere—split apart from each other.

What type of rock is limestone and sandstone?

sedimentary rocks
Limestone and sandstone are found in very large amounts all around the globe. They are common sedimentary rocks.

What types of rocks are in the sea?

The seabed is also home to Volcanic Massive Sulfide deposits, which are rich in ore that can be mined for its resources. Minerals found under the seabed include gabbro, basalt, serpentine, peridotite, olivine and ore minerals from VMS.

Which type of boundary creates trenches?

convergent plate boundaries
In particular, ocean trenches are a feature of convergent plate boundaries, where two or more tectonic plates meet. At many convergent plate boundaries, dense lithosphere melts or slides beneath less-dense lithosphere in a process called subduction, creating a trench.

What was Harry Hess’s theory of seafloor spreading?

Hess envisaged that oceans grew from their centres, with molten material (basalt) oozing up from the Earth’s mantle along the mid ocean ridges. This created new seafloor which then spread away from the ridge in both directions.