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Plates that are not subducting are driven by gravity sliding off the elevated mid-ocean ridges a process called ridge push. [4] At a spreading center, basaltic magma rises up the fractures and cools on the ocean floor to form new seabed. Hydrothermal vents are common at spreading centers. Older rocks will be found farther away from the ...
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 .
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 ...
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Magnetic anomalies off west coast of North America. Dashed lines are spreading centers on mid-ocean ridges. The Vine–Matthews-Morley hypothesis correlates the symmetric magnetic patterns seen on the seafloor with geomagnetic field reversals. At mid-ocean ridges, new crust is created by the injection, extrusion, and solidification of magma.
Marine geology or geological oceanography is the study of the history and structure of the ocean floor. It involves geophysical, geochemical, sedimentological and paleontological investigations of the ocean floor and coastal zone. Marine geology has strong ties to geophysics and to physical oceanography.
Of the 71 percent of the Earth’s surface that is ocean floor, only 26 percent of it has been mapped with the level of resolution used on this expedition by the institute.
Scientists believe they’ve discovered an ancient ocean floor comprising a new layer between Earth’s mantle and core.