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you can find the youngest rocks on the top of the ocean floor.

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Q: Where can you find the youngest rocks on the ocean floor?
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Where would you expect to find oldest rock on the ocean floor?

Somewhere at the bottom of the Marianas Trench you would find the oldest rock of the oceanic crust. Somewhere else, however, there are older rocks on the ocean floor--those deposited by icebergs that have broken off of glaciers. Those erratic rocks could be much older than the oldest oceanic crust.


Explain how drilling samples provided evidence for sea floor spreading?

Scientists discovered that the rocks that were found farther away from the ridge the sample was taken from, the older the rocks were. The most recent rocks were always in the center of the ridges. This showed that sea-floor spreading really has taken place.


What are rocks and minerals?

Minerals are inorganic naturally occurring solids with a definite chemical composition and a crystalline structure. Rocks are composed of minerals.


Which are younger old seafloor rocks or old continental rocks?

Old sea floor rocks are much younger than old continental rocks! This is because the oceanic lithospheric plate forming the seafloor tends to be recycled at places known as subduction zones where it is forced below less dense (commonly continental) lithosphere. As such the oldest continental rocks tend to be 2-3 billion years old whereas oceanic crust neve tends to be more than a few hundred million years old.


How did scientists find out that rocks farther away from the mid-ocean ridges were older than those near it?

Radiometric dating. They sampled the basaltic rocks of the sea floor, and analyzed their radioisotope ratios. This produces an accurate age. They also measured the paleomagnetic striping on the sea floor, and have matched sea floor rock ages to those on land. The radioisotope dates are in good agreement with the measured rates of sea floor spreading. Currently, for example, the Atlantic Ocean is opening by a few inches per year. The Pacific sea floor is spreading even faster, but it is sucked beneath the American and Asian plate margins faster yet, creating orogeny (mountain building) particularly along the western edge of the north and south American plates. In other words, the Pacific Ocean is shrinking, even though its floor spreads a bit faster. This is expected to continue for another half billion years or so, and then reverse, in what is known as the Wilson cycle.

Related questions

What will you find on the ocean floor?

sand,rocks


What kinds of rocks are in the ocean?

The ocean floor is mainly basalt. Closer to the poles you would occassionally find a glacial erratic, dropped from a melting iceberg.


Where would you expect to find the oldest on the ocean floor?

Somewhere at the bottom of the Marianas Trench you would find the oldest rock of the oceanic crust. Somewhere else, however, there are older rocks on the ocean floor--those deposited by icebergs that have broken off of glaciers. Those erratic rocks could be much older than the oldest oceanic crust.


Where would you expect to find oldest rock on the ocean floor?

Somewhere at the bottom of the Marianas Trench you would find the oldest rock of the oceanic crust. Somewhere else, however, there are older rocks on the ocean floor--those deposited by icebergs that have broken off of glaciers. Those erratic rocks could be much older than the oldest oceanic crust.


Explain how drilling samples provided evidence for sea floor spreading?

Scientists discovered that the rocks that were found farther away from the ridge the sample was taken from, the older the rocks were. The most recent rocks were always in the center of the ridges. This showed that sea-floor spreading really has taken place.


If you could collect a sample of rock from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge where would you look to find the youngest rocks?

You would be looking at the solidified magma closest to the fault between the ridges.


What might you find at the mid ocean ridge?

at the mid-ocean ridge you can find the youngest oceanic plate and a divergent boundary.


Where would you find an estuary?

An estuary is typically found where a river meets the sea, creating a unique habitat with a mixture of fresh and saltwater. Estuaries can be located along coastlines around the world.


Fossils found in younger rocks?

The youngest rocks would be igneous, those created by cooling magma. Impossible to find a fossil there.


What do scientsit find when they study the ocean floor?

sand


Where would you expect to find the oldest rock on the oldest floor?

Somewhere at the bottom of the Marianas Trench you would find the oldest rock of the oceanic crust. Somewhere else, however, there are older rocks on the ocean floor--those deposited by icebergs that have broken off of glaciers. Those erratic rocks could be much older than the oldest oceanic crust.


How does carbon from the ocean get into shells that settle on the ocean floor?

Read a book and u will find out