GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -The age, density, and thickness of oceanic crust increases with distance from the mid-ocean ridge.

Detailed explanation-2: -As the oceanic plate cools, away from the ridge axis, the oceanic mantle lithosphere (the colder, denser part of the mantle that, together with the crust, comprises the oceanic plates) thickens, and the density increases. Thus older seafloor is underlain by denser material and is deeper.

Detailed explanation-3: -Comparing the ages of the oceanic crust near a mid-ocean ridge shows that the crust is youngest right at the spreading center, and gets progressively older as you move away from the divergent boundary in either direction, aging approximately 1 million years for every 20-40 km from the ridge.

Detailed explanation-4: -On the seafloor, sediments are thinnest near spreading centers (young seafloor) and thicker away from the ridge, where the seafloor is older and has more time to accumulate. Sediments are also much thickest near continents.