What was the importance of the discovery that molten rock was coming out of cracks along the mid-ocean ridge?

What was the importance of the discovery that molten rock was coming out of cracks along the mid-ocean ridge?

What was the importance of the discovery that molten rock was coming out of the cracks along the mid-ocean ridge? It proved the theory of sea floor spreading and continental drift. Where would you find the oldest rock on the ocean floor? The farthest away from the mid-ocean ridge.

Why was the discovery of mid-ocean ridge important?

In the 1960s, geologists discovered and began to propose mechanisms for seafloor spreading. The discovery of mid-ocean ridges and the process of seafloor spreading allowed for Wegner’s theory to be expanded so that it included the movement of oceanic crust as well as the continents.

What did Hess discover about the rocks in the Mid Atlantic ridge Why is this significant?

Hess in 1960. On the basis of Tharp’s efforts and other new discoveries about the deep-ocean floor, Hess postulated that molten material from Earth’s mantle continuously wells up along the crests of the mid-ocean ridges that wind for nearly 80,000 km (50,000 miles) through all the world’s oceans.

What is the importance of seafloor spreading?

Significance. Seafloor spreading helps explain continental drift in the theory of plate tectonics. When oceanic plates diverge, tensional stress causes fractures to occur in the lithosphere.

What is the importance of the concepts of the plate tectonics theory?

Plate tectonics explains why and where earthquakes occur. This makes it possible to make predictions about earthquakes. Plate tectonics explains why and where mountains are formed. The oceans according to plate tectonics are formed by divergent boundaries.

What did scientists discover when they went to the mid-ocean ridge with Alvin?

Divers aboard Alvin saw much more than warm water; they discovered communities of benthic fauna, including “giant tube worms,” which thrive on the chemical energy provided by spreading center volcanoes. These were, and still are, the only ecosystems known to be based on chemosynthesis rather than photosynthesis.

What did Harry Hess discover that helped prove that tectonic plates are moving?

Hess discovered that the oceans were shallower in the middle and identified the presence of Mid Ocean Ridges, raised above the surrounding generally flat sea floor (abyssal plain) by as much as 1.5 km.

What did Harry Hess discover about the ocean floor?

Harry Hess was a geologist and Navy submarine commander during World War II. Part of his mission had been to study the deepest parts of the ocean floor. In 1946 he had discovered that hundreds of flat-topped mountains, perhaps sunken islands, shape the Pacific floor.

What happens to old oceanic crust as new molten material rises from the mantle?

A ridge forms along a crack in the oceanic crust. At a mid-ocean ridge, molten material rises from the mantle and erupts. The molten material then spreads out, pushing older rock to both sides of the ridge. This process, called sea-floor spreading, continually adds new material to the ocean floor.

Why are mid-ocean ridges geologically important?

Mid-ocean ridges are geologically important because they occur along the kind of plate boundary where new ocean floor is created as the plates spread apart. Thus the mid-ocean ridge is also known as a “spreading center” or a “divergent plate boundary.” The plates spread apart at rates of 1 cm to 20 cm per year.

How did scientists first identify the process of seafloor spreading?

The magnetism of mid-ocean ridges helped scientists first identify the process of seafloor spreading in the early 20th century. Basalt, the once- molten rock that makes up most new oceanic crust, is a fairly magnetic substance, and scientists began using magnetometer s to measure the magnetism of the ocean floor in the 1950s.

How does the thickness of the oceanic crust change with distance?

The age, density, and thickness of oceanic crust increases with distance from the mid-ocean ridge. Geomagnetic Reversals. The magnetism of mid-ocean ridges helped scientists first identify the process of seafloor spreading in the early 20th century.

How deep does the mid-ocean ridge wrap around the globe?

The mid-ocean ridge wraps around the globe for more than 65,000 km like the seam of a baseball, with an average depth to the ridge crest of 2500 m. Click image for larger view and image credit.