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Why are sea floor rocks so young?
Sea floor rocks are young because of the process of seafloor spreading at mid-ocean ridges. As new oceanic crust forms at the ridges, older rocks get pushed further away. This continuous process creates a relatively young age for the sea floor rocks, with the oldest rocks being around 200 million years old.
How old are the oldest rock of the Atlantic sea floor?
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is part of the greater mid-ocean ridge system, an underwater mountain range that is over 40,000 miles long. The age of new rock closest to the ridge would be roughly the same anywhere along the ridge.
How do you Calculation the rate of sea floor spreading examples?
The rate of sea floor spreading is calculated by measuring the distance between magnetic stripes on the sea floor, which are formed by the alternating polarity of Earth's magnetic field. By knowing the age of the sea floor rocks at different distances from a mid-ocean ridge, scientists can determine the spreading rate. For example, if the rocks at a certain distance from the ridge are 1 million years old, and the distance is 100 km, the spreading rate would be 10 cm/year.
Are rocks on the seafloor older then the continental rocks?
No. Continental rocks are much older. New sea floor is constantly being create and destroyed. At mid-ocean ridges, the sea floor spreads and magma from deeper in the Earth pushes up to create new ocean crust. At places where ocean plates contact continental plates, the ocean plate is often pushed underneath the continental plate, in a process called subduction. As the ocean plate is pushed back down into the Earth, the heat and the pressure melt it down, destroying it. Since continental plates are very rarely subducted, and, with the exception of places like Iceland where a mid-ocean ridge actually rises above sea level, generally rocks on the continent will be older.
What is the evidence for sea-floor spreading?
Evidence for sea-floor spreading includes the discovery of mid-ocean ridges where new oceanic crust is formed, the age progression of rocks showing youngest rocks at mid-ocean ridges and oldest near continents, magnetic striping patterns on the sea floor due to changes in Earth's magnetic field, and the presence of deep ocean trenches where older crust is subducted.
How would the age of the oldest rocks on the continents compare with the age of the oldest rocks on the seafloor if the rock on the continents is continually formed but not removed?
The oldest rocks on the continents would be much older than the rocks on the sea floor because the rocks on the continents are not being removed unlike the rocks on the sea floor that are made by the mid-ocean ridge are being removed by deep ocean trenches. this prossess that is occuring on the sea floor is called sea floor spreading. evidence of this is the Pacific ocean shrinking and the Atlantic ocean growing.
Why are sea floor rocks so young?
Sea floor rocks are young because of the process of seafloor spreading at mid-ocean ridges. As new oceanic crust forms at the ridges, older rocks get pushed further away. This continuous process creates a relatively young age for the sea floor rocks, with the oldest rocks being around 200 million years old.
How old are the oldest rocks found on the sea floor?
Around 200 million years of age.
What prominent sea floor feature is found in the central Atlantic ocean?
The prominent sea floor feature found in the central Atlantic ocean is called the Mid Atlantic Ridge.
Where does the new rocks form on the sea floor?
Forms by lava from volcanoes on the sea floor
What happens at the mid-atlantic ridge?
Sea floor spreading
What sea floor did marlin whet in finding nemo?
Atlantic
Where are the youngest rocks in sea-floor spreading?
The youngest rocks in sea-floor spreading can be found at the mid-ocean ridges, where new oceanic crust is formed. As tectonic plates pull apart, magma rises to the surface and solidifies, creating new rocks. These rocks are typically less than a few million years old.
What happens in sea-floor spearding?
new rocks form
How scientist date sea floor rocks?
looking at patterns
What are types of evidence that the sea floor is expanding?
Rocks have a north and south pole. The sea floor was discovered to have different magnetic poles on cracks in the ocean floor.
What happens to the old ocean floor as the sea floor spreads?
As the sea floor spreads, the old ocean floor gets pushed out, which makes the plates move.
