Sea Floor Spreading Rift Valley

The theory is that the rift valleys will create new oceans so the detection of spreading in the rift valley provided evidence of seafloor spreading.

Sea floor spreading rift valley.

Seafloor spreading seafloor spreading is a process that occurs at mid ocean ridges where new oceanic crust is formed through volcanic activity and then gradually moves away from the ridge. Seafloor spreading is a constant geologic phenomenon and a primary driver of continental drift. This idea played a pivotal role in the development of the theory of plate tectonics which revolutionized geologic thought during the last quarter of the 20th century. A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift or fault.

The triple junction is the central point where three cracks boundaries split off at about 120 angles from each other. Many existing continental rift valleys are the result of a failed arm of a triple junction although there are two the east african rift and the baikal. A rift valley is formed on a divergent plate boundary a crustal extension or spreading apart of the surface which is subsequently further deepened by the forces of erosion. Seafloor spreading and rift valleys are common features at triple junctions triple junctions are the intersection of three divergent plate boundaries.

This divergence is also referred to as sea floor spreading. The great rift valley is a series of connected rift valleys. The most extensive rift valley is located along the crest of the mid ocean ridge system and is the result of sea floor spreading examples of this type of rift include the mid atlantic ridge and the east pacific rise. Tension rods were placed in the cracks created by the rift valley.

Seafloor spreading theory that oceanic crust forms along submarine mountain zones and spreads out laterally away from them. This creates a three armed rift called a triple junction usually with each rift at a. The process begins when the crust is heated from beneath by upwelling in the mantle sometimes called a mantle plume. Divergence can also cause earthquakes and if it occurs near the continental crust a rift valley will be created through faulting.

Seafloor spreading at the north end of the system created the red sea separating the arabian peninsula on the arabian plate from the african continent on the nubian african plate and will eventually connect the red sea and the mediterranean sea.