SEAFLOOR SPREADING

ROSE B. DELOS SANTOS

Learning Objectives:

● Describe the seafloor spreading process; and

● Realize the importance of the seafloor
spreading process relative to the continental
drift theory.
Is the Earth Expanding?
Seafloor Spreading

- Is the usual process at work at

divergent plate boundaries, leading to
the creation of new ocean floor
- Proposed by Harry Hess
https://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=oXYAdzmwQsc&t=125
It’s time to
Activity 1.1- All
About Ridge
Identify the 5 correct descriptions about mid-ocean ridge by
checking (√) the box before each statement.
It is made up of volcanic rocks.
It is formed when a cracked created in the crust.
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is one of the examples of a mid-ocean ridge.
Earthquakes were associated with ridges.
It is formed when two oceanic plates collide.
The scientists were able to map the mid-ocean ridge using sonars.
The new seafloor formed at the mid-ocean ridge.
Activity 1.2-
Formation of New
Seafloor
Arrange the formation of the new seafloor by writing numbers 1 to 5 in the
box before each statement

The seafloor above is pulled apart and forming the crack in

the crust.
The magma flows out from the crust.
The magma cools down and becomes the new seafloor.
This slowly raises and spreads sideways.
The hot less dense materials in the mantle are in motion.
Activity 2-
Seafloor
Spreading Model
. 1. What does the sheet of lined paper
represents?

The lined paper represents the

ocean floor.
2. What geological feature of the seafloor does the middle

slit represents?

It represents the mid-ocean ridge.

3. Based on your answer in number 1, what occurs in this
feature?

The ocean floor is slowly

pulling apart.
4. What process happens at the two- side slits represent?

The side slits serve as subduction zone

where the old seafloor plunges beneath
another tectonic plate.
5. What geological feature is formed at the two- side slits?

Trenches are found at subduction

zones.
OPEN FORUM
East Pacific Rise
East Pacific Rise
- Is a mid-ocean ridge, a tectonic plate boundary
located along the floor of the Pacific Ocean. It
separates the Pacific Plate to the west from the
North American Plate, the Rivera Plate, the
Cocos Plate, the Nazca Plate, and the Antarctic
Plate.
- It is 1.4 km deep and 20 - 40 km wide
- Spreads at the rate of 6 - 16 cm per year
Iceland’s Mid-Atlantic Ridge
Mid-Atlantic Ridge

- Is a mid-ocean ridge, a divergent or

constructive plate boundary found
along the floor of the Atlantic
Ocean.
- Spreads 1- 2 cm per year