SEAFLOOR

SPREADING
SEAFLOOR
SPREADING
Seafloor spreading is a
geologic process where there
is a gradual addition of new
oceanic crust in the ocean
floor through a volcanic
activity while moving the
older rocks away from the
mid-oceanic ridge. The mid-
ocean ridge is where the
seafloor spreading occurs, in
which tectonic plates—large
slabs of Earth’s lithosphere—
split apart from each other.
 Seafloor spreading was proposed
HARRY by an American geophysicist,
Harry H. Hess in 1960. By the use

HESS of the sonar, Hess was able to

map the ocean floor and
discovered the mid-Atlantic ridge
(mid-ocean ridge). He also found
out that the temperature near to
the mid-Atlantic ridge was
warmer than the surface away
from it. He believed that the high
temperature was due to the
magma that leaked out from the
ridge. The Continental Drift
Theory of Alfred Wegener in 1912
is supported by this hypothesis
on the shift position of the
earth’s surface.
 HISTORY
The idea of continental drift circulated in scientific circles until World War II, when sounding
gear produced new evidence of what the seafloor looked like. The gear, developed in the
1930s, bounced sound waves off the seafloor to determine its depth and features. It
happened that the command of one attack transport ship, the USS Cape Johnson, was
given to Harry Hammond Hess, a geologist from Princeton University. Hess, then in his late
thirties, wanted to continue his scientific investigations even while at war. So he left his
ship’s sounding gear on all of the time, not just when approaching port or navigating a
difficult landing. What Hess discovered was a big surprise. The bottom of the sea was not
smooth as expected, but full of canyons, trenches, and volcanic sea mountains. Ocean floor
exploration continued, and by the 1950s other researchers had found that a huge rift ran
along the top of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. That enabled Hess to understand his ocean floor
profiles in the Pacific. He realized that the Earth’s crust had been moving away on each side
of oceanic ridges, down the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, that were long and volcanically
active. He published his theory in History of Ocean Basins (1962), and it came to be called
“seafloor spreading.” In the early 1960s, dating of ocean-core samples showed that the
ocean floor was younger at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge but progressively older in either
direction, confirming the reality of seafloor spreading. Further evidence came along by
1963, as geophysicists realized that Earth’s magnetic field had reversed polarity many times,
with each reversal lasting less than 200,000 years. Rocks of the same age in the seafloor
crust would have taken on the magnetic polarity prevalent at the time that that part of the
crust formed. Sure enough, surveys of either side of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge showed a
symmetrical pattern of alternating polarity stripes. That clinched the argument for most
geologists.
THE PROCESS OF SEA
FLOOR SPREADING
The mid-ocean ridge is the region where new oceanic crust is created. The
oceanic crust is composed of rocks that move away from the ridge as new
crust is being formed. The formation of the new crust is due to the rising of the
molten material (magma) from the mantle by convection current. When the
molten magma reaches the oceanic crust, it cools and pushes away the existing
rocks from the ridge equally in both directions.
A younger oceanic crust is then formed, causing the spread of the ocean floor.
The new rock is dense but not as dense as the old rock that moves away from
the ridge. As the rock moves, further, it becomes colder and denser until it
reaches an ocean trench or continues spreading.
It is believed that the successive movement of the rocks from the ridge
progressively increases the ocean depth and have greater depths in the ocean
trenches. Seafloor spreading leads to the renewal of the ocean floor in every
200 million years, a period of time for building a mid-ocean ridge, moving away
across the ocean and subduction into a trench.
 THE SUBDUCTION PROCESS
The highly dense oceanic crust that is formed after a progressive spreading is
destined to two possible occurrences. It can either be subducted into the ocean
deep trench or continue to spread across the ocean until it reaches a coast.
Subduction is the slanting and downward movement of the edge of a crustal plate
into the mantle beneath another plate. It occurs when an incredibly dense ocean
crust meets a deep ocean trench. On the other hand, if the ocean crusts continuous
to move along the ocean and not found a trench, no subduction will occur. It will
continue to spread until a coast is found and literally pushing it away towards its
direction.
Two possible things could happen in the subduction of ocean crust. Once the
subduction occurs, a melting happens due to a tremendous friction. The ocean
crust is then melted into magma. The magma could either go back into the mantle
for another convection currents leading again to another sea floor spreading or it
could burst through a crack in a continental crust and creates a volcano.
Subduction and sea-floor spreading are processes that could alter the size and
form of the ocean. For instance, the Atlantic Ocean is believed to be expanding
because of its few trenches. Due to this, continuous Seafloor spreading occurs and
makes Atlantic Ocean floor to be connected to other continental crust making the
ocean gets wider over the time.
On the other hand, the Pacific Ocean has more trenches that lead to more
subduction of ocean crusts rather than the formation of the mid-ocean ridge.
The Pacific Ocean is believed to be continuing to shrink.
EVIDENCES OF SEAFLOOR SPREADING

SEAFLOOR MAGNETIC
DRILL STRIPES

MOLTEN RADIOMETRIC
AGE DATING
MATERIAL AND FOSSIL
AGES
 MOLTEN MATERIAL
Hess’s discovery on the warmer temperature near the mid-Atlantic
ridge when he began the ocean mapping, led to his evidence about the
molten material underneath the ocean. The condition on the mid-
oceanic ridge was substantially different from other surfaces away
from the region because of the warmer temperature. He described that
the molten magma from the mantle arose due to the convection
currents in the interior of the earth.

The convection current was due to the radioactive energy from the
earth’s core that makes the materials in the lower mantle to become
warm, less dense and rise. The flow of the materials goes through the
upper mantle and leaks through the plates of the crust. This makes the
temperature near the mid-oceanic ridge becomes warm and the other
surface to become cold because as the molten magma continues to
push upward, it moves the rocks away from the ridge.
 SEAFLOOR DRILL
The seafloor drilling system led to the evidence that supports
the seafloor-spreading hypothesis. The samples obtained from
the seafloor drill reveals that the rocks away from the mid-
oceanic ridge were relatively older than the rocks near to it.
The old rocks were also denser and thicker compared to the
thinner and less dense rocks in the mid-oceanic ridge.

This means that the magma that leaks from the ridge pushes
the old rocks away and as they increasingly become distant,
they more likely become older, denser, and thicker. On the
other hand, the newest, thinnest crust is located near the
center of the mid-ocean ridge, the actual site of seafloor
spreading.
RADIOMETRIC AGE DATING
AND FOSSIL AGES
By the use of radiometric age dating and studying
fossil ages, it was also found out the rocks of the
sea floor age is younger than the continental rocks.
It is believed that continental rocks formed 3
billion years ago, however the sediments samples
from the ocean floor are found to be not
exceeding 200 million years old. It is a clear
evidence that the formation of rocks in the sea
floor is due to reabsorption of materials.
MAGNETIC STRIPES
In the 20th century, the magnetic survey was conducted in the Mid-ocean
ridge in order to investigate evidence of sea-floor spreading. By using the
magnetometer, the magnetic polarity will be shown through a timescale
that contains the normal and a reverse polarity. The minerals contained in
the rocks are oriented opposite to the magnetic field. The patterns of the
magnetic field will then be compared to the rocks to determine its
approximate ages.
The investigation of the mid-ocean-ridge, using the magnetic stripes
resulted in the three discoveries. First, stripes of normal and reversed
polarity were alternate across the bottom of the ocean. Second, the
alternate stripes of normal and reversed polarity formed a mirror image
to the other side of the ridge. The third is the abrupt ending of stripes
when it reached the edge of the continent or an ocean trench. It was
concluded that the sea floor is composed of different rocks according to
ages and that they are positioned equally in opposite directions. This
records that there is a constant movement and spreading of rocks on the
ocean floor.
OCEAN BASINS
Ocean basins are that part of Earth's surface that
extends seaward from the continental margins (the
submerged outer edges of continents, each composed
of a continental shelf and a continental slope). Basins
lie at an average water depth of about 12,450 feet
(3,795 meters). From there they drop steeply down
into the deepest trenches. The oceans and seas of the
planet form a layer of water that covers approximately
71 percent of Earth's surface. Ocean basins occupy
more than 76 percent of the total ocean area..
The deep sea floor beyond the continental
margin; made up of oceanic crust, which is
composed mostly of volcanic basalt. Most of
the deep-sea floor lies at a depth of 3,000 to
5,000 m, averaging about 4,000 m
Deep Ocean Province is between the
continental margins and the midoceanic ridge
and includes a variety of features such as;
Abyssal plain, Abyssal hills, Seamounts, and
Deep sea trenches
Abyssal plain
are broad flat areas of ocean floor found between the continental
margins and the mid-ocean ridges, average 4000 m depth and
coated bysediments.
Abyssal hills
are small, extinct volcanoes or rock intrusions that poke up
through the sediments coating the abyssal plains.
Seamounts
are steep-sided volcanoes that rise up from the sea floor but
which do not stick up above sea level.
Mid-oceanic islands
rise up from the deep sea floor to the surface due to hot spots in
the crust (e.g.., Hawaiian Islands)
Guyots
are flat-topped seamounts. Today they occur far below sea level, but
at one time they were islands that poked up above the surface. They
were eroded flat by wave action, and then gradually sank downward.
Trenches
are the deepest parts of the sea floor and may be over 10000 m
deep. They are found at the margins of the crustal plates and formed
by subduction, where one plate descends into the mantle below the
other plate. The deepest ocean trench is the Mariana Trench (11,022
m), located in the western Pacific Ocean.
Mid-oceanic ridge system
A continuous chain of volcanic Submarine Mountain that encircle the
globe, marking the boundaries of several crustal plates and extends
for about 60,000 km around the Earth. These are areas of sea floor
spreading and the formation of new oceanic crust (see the plate
tectonic theory). They rise 2000-4000 meters from the ocean floor,
and parts sometimes reach the sea surface, forming emergent islands
(e.g., Iceland). At the center of the ridge there is a great gap or
depression known as the central rift valley.
Hydrothermal Vents
Occur near the axes of oceanic ridges. Cold, dense seawater seeps down
through fractures in the ocean floor and gets heated to very high
temperatures by the hot mantle material. The heated water then forces its
way back up through the crust and emerges in hydrothermal vents, or
deep-sea hot springs. As the hot water seeps through cracks in the earth’s
crust, it dissolves a variety of minerals. When the mineral-laden hot water
emerges at the vent, it mixes with the surrounding cold water and is
rapidly cooled. This causes many of the minerals to solidify, forming
mineral deposits around the vents in chimney-like structures called
smokers. The “smoke” is actually a dense cloud of mineral particles.
Types of Smokers
o White smokers are warm water vents (10-20°C) containing white
particles of
barium sulfate
o Black smokers are hot water vents (350°C - 400°C) containing black
metal
sulfides
 STAGES OF OCEAN BASIN
EVOLUTION
Embryonic
rift valley forms as continent begins to split
Great Rift Valley, Eastern Africa
Juvenile
sea-floor basalts begin forming as continental sections diverge
Red Sea
Mature
broad ocean basin widens, trenches develop and subduction begins
Atlantic Ocean
Declining
subduction eliminates much of sea floor and oceanic ridge
Pacific Ocean
Terminal
narrow ocean basin, possibly shallowing because of sediment input young mountain ranges along flanks
Mediterranean Sea, Persian Gulf
Continental Collision
last of the sea floor is eliminated and continents collide, forming a continental mountain chain.
Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau
 5
MAJOR
OCEAN
BASIN
PACIFIC OCEAN BASIN
Biggest and deepest ocean
basin in the world. The basin is
located on the east of the North
and South American continents,
west of Asia, Malaysia and
Australia. It covers a large part
of the Earth with water,
approximately around 155
million square kilometers. The
Pacific Ocean Basin basically
contributes to numerous
earthquakes and volcanic
eruptions on areas of the Earth.
ATLANTIC OCEAN
BASIN
The second biggest ocean
basin on Earth, right after
the Pacific Ocean Basin. It
covers around 20% of
surface on Earth which is
around 75 million square
kilometers. It is an important
passage for ships to sail
through.
 INDIAN OCEAN
BASIN
The third largest basins in the
world. It is roughly located in
the West part of Africa. It lies in
Northern parts of Asia, the East
of Australia and the South tip of
the Southern Ocean. The basin
is around 68 million square
kilometers in total. It helped in
the trading system of spices
when Vasco da Gama, the
Portuguese explorer, first
entered the trading zone.
SOUTHERN OCEAN BASIN
The fourth largest
ocean basin in the
world. It is around
20 million square
kilometers. It
contributes the rise
and fall of sea level
all around the world.
 ARTIC OCEAN BASIN
It is the smallest basin among all
the others, it covers the majority
of the Arctic. It ranges from the
North Pole to the shores in North
America, Asia and Europe. The
basin has a surface area of 14
million square kilometers. The
Arctic Ocean Basin is covered
with ice. This particular basin
serves a s an important research
point for scientist. It helps to
study how these ice moves.
http://www.eeescience.utoledo.edu/Faculty/Krantz/Oceanography/Ch
apter_summaries/Chap03c.evolution%20of%20ocean%20basins.htm
https://deepoceanfacts.com/major-ocean-basins
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