https://phys.org/news/2013-10-philippine-earthquake-miles- https://phys.

org/news/2013-10-philippine-earthquake-miles-
long-rocky-wall.html long-rocky-wall.html

Baler, Aurora Central island of Bohol

https://conasur.com/the-wonders-of-mid-ocean-ridges-sea- https://conasur.com/the-wonders-of-mid-ocean-ridges-sea-
floor-spreading/ floor-spreading/

Iceland, the land of ice and

fire
Seafloor Spreading Theory
Think

Pair
Share
 Activity 1
THINK, PAIR AND SHARE

Directions: Think for a moment about the videos you watch, jot down your ideas on a
piece of paper with your seatmate, then share it to the group and answer the guide
question. Your Leader/Secretary will consolidate the ideas and write it on the space
provided below.

Guide Questions:
1. What is the process of sea-floor spreading?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
2. How are seafloor different from each other?
_____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
3. What are the evidences of Seafloor Spreading Theory?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Guide Question 1
Seafloor Spreading
The process
by which
molten
material
adds new
oceanic
crust to the
ocean floor
Mid-Ocean Ridge

• Mid-Ocean Ridge:
The undersea
mountain chain
where new ocean
floor is produced; a
divergent plate
boundary
Mid-Ocean Ridge
Sonar
• Sonar: A device
that determines
the distance of
an object under
water by
recording
echoes of sound
waves
The sonar is used to map the
ocean floor
Sonar bounces sound
waves off underwater
objects and then
records the echoes of
these sound waves

The time it takes for the

echo to arrive indicates
the distance to the
object
Evidence for Sea-Floor
Spreading
In the 1960s, Harry Hess
examined maps of the mid
ocean ridge. He proposed that
the ocean floors move like
conveyor belts, carrying the
continents with them.
 What evidence did scientists
find for seafloor spreading in the
1960s?

• Evidence from
magnetic stripes

• Evidence from molten

material

• Evidence from drilling

samples
Evidence From Molten Material
• Experts found strange rocks shaped like
pillows or like toothpaste squeezed from a
tube

• Such rocks can form only when molten

material hardens quickly after erupting
under water

• The presence of these rocks showed that

molten material has erupted again and again
from cracks along the central valley of the
mid-ocean ridge.
http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/vents/nemo/explorer/concepts/pillow_lava.html
Guide Question 2.

Evidence From Drilling Samples

• When scientists sampled the rocks,
they found that the further away
from the ridge the rocks were the
older they were
• The younger rocks were always in
the center of the ridges
 Scientists discovered
that the rock that
makes up the ocean
floor lies in a pattern of
magnetized “stripes”
780,000 years ago,
magnetic poles reversed
themselves
• If they reversed
today, the needle
in a compass would
point south instead
Evidence From of north
Magnetic Stripes The rock in the ocean is
made of iron, which
began as molten
material
Guide Question 3.

Evidence for
seafloor spreading
• Evidence from
magnetic stripes

}
• Evidence from molten
material

• Evidence from drilling

samples
Subduction at Deep-Ocean
Trenches
 What happens to the ocean floor at deep
ocean trenches?

• At deep-ocean trenches, two plates

collide causing the denser of the two
plates to dive back to the mantle.
This process is known as subduction.
• Over tens of million of years, this
material melts back into molten
material and may rise again as new
oceanic crust.
 Deep-Ocean Trenches
• A deep valley
along the
ocean floor
through
which
oceanic crust
slowly sinks
towards the
mantle
 Guide Question: What is the
process of sea-floor spreading?
• At the 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.
• Over tens of millions of years, the process
continues until the oldest ocean floor
collides with the continental crust
• The more dense oceanic crust subducts
(sinks) back into the mantle at a deep-
ocean trench
Subduction and Earth’s
Oceans
Subduction in the Pacific Ocean

• Subduction in the Pacific Ocean

is occurring at a greater rate
than sea-floor is expanding

• This is caused by the large

amount of trenches
 Subduction in the Atlantic
• The Atlantic Ocean is expanding at a
greater rate than subducting

• This is because of the low number of

trenches in the Atlantic

• Over time the entire ocean gets

larger and pushes against the
continents
 Activity 3.
Break up Map!
Direction: Illustrate how Mid-Atlantic ridge emerges and changes the seafloor. Use
arrows to show movements
Evaluation
Answer the 5 – item multiple choice to
assess your understanding of the lesson

Direction. Encircle the letters that

correspond to your answer.
Extend
Explore the links between seafloor
spreading and the Earth’s climate.
Express your opinion according to your
abilities and talents. Output could be in
a form of a short song, poem, essay,
drawing, etc.

Note: Content/ideas should contain

details and information about the
community you belong (Ex. Narra,
Palawan)