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Spreading rate is the rate at which an ocean basin widens due to seafloor spreading. (The rate at which new oceanic lithosphere is added to each tectonic plate on either side of a mid-ocean ridge is the spreading half-rate and is equal to half of the spreading rate). Spreading rates determine if the ridge is fast, intermediate, or slow.
Harry Hess proposed the seafloor spreading hypothesis in 1960 (published in 1962 [1]); the term "spreading of the seafloor" was introduced by geophysicist Robert S. Dietz in 1961. [2] According to Hess, seafloor was created at mid-oceanic ridges by the convection of the Earth's mantle, pushing and spreading the older crust away from the ridge. [3]
In the 1960s, geologists discovered and began to propose mechanisms for seafloor spreading. The discovery of mid-ocean ridges and the process of seafloor spreading allowed for Wegener's theory to be expanded so that it included the movement of oceanic crust as well as the continents. [49]
The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as 'seabeds'. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of the ocean is very deep, where the seabed is known as the abyssal plain. Seafloor spreading creates ...
An underwater mountain taller than the world’s highest building has been discovered by ... is the world’s tallest building at a height of 2,722ft (830m). ... The seafloor feature was ...
A whole new world: Surprising ecosystem thriving under sea floor. The study authors found the tubeworms and other species living in warm, fluid-filled cavities more than 2,500 meters, or 1.5 miles ...
Only about 5% of the world's oceans have been explored, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. PHOTO: A giant tubeworm is seen on the seafloor surface at 2,500 meters ...
In 1960, Hess made his single most important contribution, which is regarded as part of the major advance in geologic science of the 20th century. In a widely circulated report to the Office of Naval Research , he advanced the theory, now generally accepted, that the Earth's crust moved laterally away from long, volcanically active oceanic ridges .