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Are the rocks that make up the ocean floor older or younger than those that make up the continents?
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
same age. the ice caps just melted on top over the rocks at the bottom of the sea.
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
Wiki User
∙ 11y agoSea Floor Spreading
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Why does oceanic crust get older as you get closer to continents?
The basalts of the ocean floors are created at the mid-ocean ridges and moves away from these ridges as new crust is created. thus as sea floor spreading occurs the older rock gets pushed away from the ridge towards the continents and the younger rock comes up beside the ridge. good example is the Atlantic ocean
What is older the continents or the ocean floor?
On average, continents are older than ocean basins. Due to the action of plate tectonics, ocean crust is being formed and destroyed continuously. The oldest oceanic crust is about 200 million years old, whereas continents, which are less dense than oceanic crust and tend not to be subducted into the mantle, can be more than 3,000 million years old in places.
How do scientists explain older and younger rock placement on the ocean floor?
They measure how far away the rock is from the mid-ocean ridge. The farther, the older.
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.
How are rocks near continents different from rocks found near centers of seafloor spreading?
Rocks near continents(on the margins of oceanic basins) are generally older and rocks near a center of sea floor spreading are younger
The type of collision that occurs when two lithospheric plates converge is determined primarily by plate?
the convergent boundry type is determined by the types of plates. There are Continent - continent plates converging this forms mountains. Then there a Oceanic crust and continental crust colisions which form subduction zones and volcanic activity on the continents side. Lastly there are Ocean - Ocean plate collisions where the hotter and younger ocean floor obducts onto the older floor.
What made the scientists believe that the sea floor is spreading?
1. What made scientist believe that the seafloor was spreading? Samples of the deep ocean floor show that basaltic oceanic crust and overlying sediment become progressively younger as the mid-ocean ridge is approached, and the sediment cover is thinner near the ridge. Also, the rock making up the ocean floor is considerably younger than the continents, with no samples found over 200 million years old, as contrasted with maximum ages of over 3 billion years for the continental rocks. This confirms that older ocean crust has been reabsorbed in ocean trench systems. by; Vontamayosa find me on Facebook
Why is it that ancient rocks are found on the continents and not on the ocean floor?
The entire ocean floor is recycled in roughly 160 million year cycles through the process of plate tectonics. Because continental plates do not subduct, the rock is much, much older, particularly in the continental interior.
Does oceanic lithosphere get older or younger as you move closer to mid-ocean range?
Younger
What discovery did scientist make when comparing the age of the sea floor to that of the continents?
The scientists realized that the continents were much older, leading them onto the theory of Sea Floor Spreading!
How does the ocean floor near the center slit differ from the ocean floor near the side slit?
The ocean floor near the side slit is colder, denser, and older than the ocean floor near the center slit
Why are continents older than ocean basins?
well continets were created by god
