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Two separate oceanic lithospheric plates are moving away from each other. As they separate, buoyant mantle material from the asthenosphere rises to fill the void. This material, which is extremely hot, but solid, and is under tremendous pressure, is decompressed as it rises, causing it to melt. When it rises to a point at or near the surface, this melt solidifies into new oceanic crust. The buoyancy of this hot new crust, coupled with its thinness, causes it to be pushed up higher over the asthenosphere than the surrounding landscape, forming ridges along the length of the divergent plate boundary. The mid-ocean ridges are the longest continuous mountain range on the planet.

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Q: What is happening at oceanic spreading ridges?
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Related questions

Where is the place where seafloor spreading occur?

Mid-oceanic ridges


What does seafloor spreading create?

New oceanic crust is created at the mid-ocean ridges.


Where are the American continents being separated from the African and Eurasian continents?

oceanic spreading ridges


According To Plate-tectonic Theory Where Is New Oceanic Crust Being Formed?

Spreading ridges


Why do oceanic rises and oceanic ridges exist?

They are located at spreading centers in the middle of the ocean. As tectonic plates move apart, magma fills it in and creates ridges and rises which are essentially mountain chains.


What is the process by which plate tectonics produces new oceanic lithosphere at ocean ridges called?

Seafloor Spreading.


A place where seafloor spreading occurs.?

2. Mid Ocean Ridges are the place where new crust is formed. 1. oceanic plates or oceanic crust


What types of volcanoes are formed at spreading centers?

Volcanoes at spreading centers is referred to as spreading center volcanism. This usually takes place on mid-oceanic ridges where the plates diverge.


What type of plate movement causes mid ocean ridges and sea floor spreading?

Mid-ocean ridges and seafloor spreading are characteristics of oceanic diverging plates, plates that are moving away from each other.


How does oceanic crust form at constructive plate margins?

Do you mean spreading centres or oceanic ridges, where the oceanic lithosphere is renewed by hot, less dense rock rising in convection zones.


Is new oceanic crust formed at mid-ocean ridges?

Yes, the process that creates oceanic crust on a mid-ocean ridge is called "seafloor spreading". seafloor spreading creates a new oceanic crust that forms on the mid-ocean ridge.


What term describes the process that creates new oceanic crust at mid ocean ridges?

Sea Floor Spreading