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Is the Ocean Floor younger than continental rock?
The oldest oceanic crust is about 260 million years old. This sounds old but is actually very young compared to the oldest continental rocks, which are 4 billion years old. It is due to the process of subduction; oceanic crust tends to get colder and denser with age as it spreads off the mid-ocean ridges.
Why are the rocks on the seafloor not older?
When the rocks are pushed deep enough, they are melted by the heat of the earth. Some of the molten rock will rise up and produce volcanoes. But most of the molten part will become part of the mantle. So as new rocks are formed along the midocean ridges, older rocks are subducted intothe trenches.
Would the ocean floor be older or younger at the ridge?
The depth of the seafloor on the flanks of a mid-ocean ridge is determined mainly by the age of the oceanic lithosphere; older seafloor is deeper. During seafloor spreading, lithosphere and mantle cooling, contraction, and isostatic adjustment with age cause seafloor deepening.
What is the oldest ocean floor rocks?
Some cratons in Canada and Greenland shelter the oldest continental rocks in the world, about 4 billion years old. Other cratons in South Africa, Australia and Asia have continental rocks that are 3 billion years old. The oldest seafloor is comparatively very young, approximately 280 million years old.
How old is the sea floor?
The oldest seafloor has been radiometrically dated to only about 200 million years (Duxbury et al. 2005:114), whereas continental rocks have been dated to four billion years, and the earth is thought to be about 4.6 billion years old (Dalrymple 2004).
How old is the ocean floor?
Where is the youngest ocean floor?
mid-ocean ridge
Where is the youngest ocean floor located? The youngest ocean floor is located on the mid-ocean ridge.
Where are the youngest rocks found on the ocean floor?
the mid-ocean ridges
The youngest rocks in the ocean floor are located at the mid-ocean ridges. Although the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is mostly an underwater feature, portions of it, such as the island of Iceland, have enough elevation to extend above sea level.
Where are the youngest rocks of the ocean floor?
Where is the youngest rock?
mid-ocean ridges
The youngest rock in the Earth’s crust is found at recent volcanic eruptions and at mid-ocean ridges.