At the opposite end of the convection current in the Earth's mantle that creates oceanic crust at the mid-ocean ridge, are trenches, where oceanic crust is diving down into the mantle. The Atlantic Ocean is expanding. The Pacific Ocean is shrinking.
Ocean trenches were discovered as a sign of destructive plate margins. These plate margins cause oceanic crust to subduct below the continental crust at the oceanic-continental boundary, and force the oceanic crust to move down into the Earth's mantle and melt into basaltic magma. As this is happening, magma at oceanic ridges is creating new oceanic crust at the mid-oceanic ridges. Overall, these two processes cancel each other out and so the total amount of oceanic crust is staying aproximately the same. Therefore the Earth is not growing. Hope this helps :)
New crust is constantly being formed at mid-ocean ridges through volcanic activity. However, the Earth does not get larger because as new crust is formed, older crust is subducted back into the mantle at subduction zones, maintaining a relatively constant amount of crust on the Earth's surface.
The youngest crust is nearest the mid-oceanic ridges, where new crust is formed from upwelling magma.
The Earth's crust renews itself through the process of plate tectonics. New crust is created at mid-ocean ridges where magma rises to the surface and solidifies, pushing older crust aside. This continuous cycle of creation and destruction helps to maintain the Earth's crust.
Just as new oceanic crust forms at mid-ocean ridges, old oceanic crust is destroyed at subduction zones.
The youngest parts of the Earth's crust are found in the oceanic crust. This crust is continuously being created at the mid-oceanic ridges.
Because - the Earth's crust is forced back below the surface at the edges of the tectonic plates These areas are called subduction zones.
at ocean ridges
They can be found in Oceanic Ridges.
Ocean trenches were discovered as a sign of destructive plate margins. These plate margins cause oceanic crust to subduct below the continental crust at the oceanic-continental boundary, and force the oceanic crust to move down into the Earth's mantle and melt into basaltic magma. As this is happening, magma at oceanic ridges is creating new oceanic crust at the mid-oceanic ridges. Overall, these two processes cancel each other out and so the total amount of oceanic crust is staying aproximately the same. Therefore the Earth is not growing. Hope this helps :)
New crust is constantly being formed at mid-ocean ridges through volcanic activity. However, the Earth does not get larger because as new crust is formed, older crust is subducted back into the mantle at subduction zones, maintaining a relatively constant amount of crust on the Earth's surface.
The youngest crust is nearest the mid-oceanic ridges, where new crust is formed from upwelling magma.
The Earth's oceanic crust is very thin at the mid-ocean ridges, and gradually thickens as it moves away from the ridges. The continental crust is thickest under mountain ranges. The average depth of oceanic crust is around 5 miles. The average depth of continental crust is 22 miles.
Subduction and folding.The seafloor ,may be "spreading" in the center but that doesn't necessarily mean it's getting bigger; at the edges it may be slipping underneath a continental plate (subduction) or piling up on itself to form mountains (folding).
False. The Earth's radius and surface area do not increase as new oceanic crust is formed at mid-oceanic ridges. Instead, the creation of new crust at mid-oceanic ridges is balanced by the destruction of older crust at subduction zones, maintaining the overall size of the Earth.
The Earth's crust renews itself through the process of plate tectonics. New crust is created at mid-ocean ridges where magma rises to the surface and solidifies, pushing older crust aside. This continuous cycle of creation and destruction helps to maintain the Earth's crust.
The youngest rocks in the crust are found on and near active volcanoes, such as those at mid-ocean ridges.