GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Seafloor spreading occurs at divergent plate boundaries. As tectonic plates slowly move away from each other, heat from the mantle’s convection currents makes the crust more plastic and less dense. The less-dense material rises, often forming a mountain or elevated area of the seafloor.

Detailed explanation-2: -New crust is continually being pushed away from divergent boundaries (where sea-floor spreading occurs), increasing Earth’s surface. But the Earth isn’t getting any bigger.

Detailed explanation-3: -As plates converge, one plate may move under the other causing earthquakes, forming volcanoes, or creating deep ocean trenches. Where plates diverge from each other, molten magma flows upward between the plates, forming mid-ocean ridges, underwater volcanoes, hydrothermal vents, and new ocean floor crust.

Detailed explanation-4: -Lesson Summary. The theory of seafloor spreading explains that molten material moves in at the boundaries between tectonic plates pushing them apart as new oceanic crust is created. This process is called seafloor spreadingand it occurs at divergent boundaries.

Detailed explanation-5: -Significance of Seafloor Spreading Seafloor spreading contributes to continental drift by the creation of new landmass at the locations in mid-ocean ridges where tectonic plates diverge. Over time, tectonic plates move further apart, and new landmass is created in the rift between the plates.