Se Sea Floor Spreading Research Paper

556 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Short essay on continental drift and plate tectonics

Tectonic Plates are what cause many of earths natural disasters. These can come in forms such as volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis. The earthquake of San Francisco was one of the most devastating earthquakes in the earths history and had ended in tragedy (Quinton et al, 2012, p189). These tectonic plates also resulted in the change of earths continents. More than 200 million years ago, all of Earth’s continents were combined into one super continent called Pangea. This continent slowly separated into 7 others we know of today (Quinton et al, 2012, p176). There are many known theories to why the Earth’s continents have changed overtime, such as the Continental Drift and Seafloor Spreading theories. These two theories help to explain the worlds creation, one of the most unknown mysteries of today. …show more content…

This theory was created by Harry Hess, a geologist that worked with the military studying the seafloor, in 1960. To back up his theory, he has discovered evidence of a Mid-Atlantic range found deep within the ocean (Quinton et al, 2012, p77). Sea Floor Spreading is a process that occurs at mid ocean ridges, where a new oceanic crust is formed and is pushed away from the ridge, it is a geological process in which the lithosphere split apart from each other (NationalGeographic, 1996). The Mid-Ocean ridge is a continuous chain of volcanoes where lava erupts, creating the crust of the earth (divediscover, 2005). The hot magma that rises up through the mid ocean ridge forms a new oceanic crust, where it is pushed away, therefore, explaining how the continents have moved overtime otherwise known as the continental drift theory, another well known theory that scientists and geologists use to explain how the Earth’s continents have changed overtime (Socratic,

Show More
Related

  • Major Earthquakes are Inevitable in Indiana’s Future

    1293 Words  | 3 Pages

    Earthquakes are a natural part of the Earth’s evolution. Scientific evidence leads many geologists to believe that all of the land on Earth was at one point in time connected. Because of plate tectonic movements or earthquakes, continental drift occurred separating the one massive piece of land in to the seven major continents today. Further evidence supports this theory, starting with the Mid-Atlantic ridge, a large mass of plate tectonics, which are increasing the size of the Atlantic Ocean while shrinking the Pacific. Some scientists believe that the major plate moveme...

    Read More

  • Thromas By Zeta Stevens Why Do Earthquakes Occur?

    1145 Words  | 3 Pages

    The earth is split into four layers, inner and outer core, the mantle and crust. The top of the mantle and crust make up what is like the skin of our earth (see source 2). The skin is split up like a puzzle and we call these puzzle pieces’ tectonic plates (see source 1). These plates are constantly moving and the plate boundaries (edges of the plates) move and slide past one another. Sometimes as the plates move the plate boundaries become stuck. Pressure builds up in the stuck area over time and eventually breaks. This is why earthquakes occur due to the sudden movement of the plate sliding and breaking creating a fault line to go off. The fault line is the line on which the

    Read More

  • Art Museum Paper: Deep Sea Drifters II Analysis

    835 Words  | 2 Pages

    Marilyn Propp, a Chicago-based artist, was born in New York. She holds a Bachelor of Art in University of Pennsylvania and Master of Art in University of Missouri-Kansas City. Among other positions such as the co-founder of Anchor Graphics, Propp is also a current adjunct faculty in the Art and Design Department at Columbia College Chicago.

    Read More

  • Case Study: Historical Geology

    1528 Words  | 4 Pages

    According to Levin, “This subduction created batholiths, compressional structures, volcanism, and metamorphism that accompanied Mesozoic and Cenozoic orogenies.” The dense oceanic crust was subducting beneath the continental crust more quickly than it was being created at the mid-ocean spreading ridge. The oceanic crust was part of the Farallon plate, which has now almost completely disappeared because it was consumed by the North American plate (Levin).

    Read More

  • Comparison Of Atlantis: Can Santontorini Be Atlantis?

    2130 Words  | 5 Pages

    When the plates mash together on a convergent boundary, they can create an earthquake. A place with a convergent boundary is New Zealand. When the plates pull apart, a divergent boundary, they create a hole in the ocean that causes molten lava to rush up and it causes a volcano to form. A place with a divergent boundary is Iceland. With about 130 volcanoes all together, it has the most volcanoes of any country in the world and is on two tectonic plates. Santorini is currently in an area of earth where the African and Eurasian plate meet, and Atlantis disappeared with a rumble that could have come from a volcano or an

    Read More

  • Atlantis Myth vs Today’s Science

    692 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ever since the idea of Atlantis being a city explorers and scientists have looked for Atlantis. One idea is that the Mid-Atlantic Ridge was caused by the sinking of Atlantis. But this is disproved because if Atlantis did sink in the Atlantic Ocean then it would not have created a ridge or ridge like area. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is caused by Divergent tectonic plates in the ocean which creates the ridge. The sinking of Atlantis could not have done this. Not only is this impossible but the descriptions given by Plato would also be off. The Mid-Atlantic ridge is a mountain like area going from north to south for a few thousands of miles; Plato described Atlantis a circular island that was maybe one hundred miles in diameter. Therefore this theory does not work.

    Read More

  • San Andreas Fault Theory

    916 Words  | 2 Pages

    The theory concluded that around 200 million years ago, the heavy Pacific Plate collided with the lighter North American Plate, and started sliding underneath, a process known as subduction. This continued for 100 million years, until some 20 million years ago, when the Pacific Plate was forced to change direction and started sliding north, creating the San Andreas Fault. Most of California’s population sits on the west side of the fault, the Pacific plate, while the rest of North America is sitting on the east side of the fault, the North American

    Read More

  • Dan McKenzie and the Theory of Plate Tectonics

    630 Words  | 2 Pages

    When our Earth’s tectonic plates are viewed separately they look like nothing spectacular, but when viewed together in a different arrangement, it is almost impossible not to see how they fit together. It is believed that the continents were once all connected until 260 million years ago when some giant natural occurrence split them apart. (The Geological Society) This is a separate hypothesis that is known as Pangea which means all land. Scientists have worked tirelessly to assemble one giant land mass where continents stay in their current general area and fit together. With erosion as an opposing force, it is impossible to have an exact picture of what it was like, but what we currently have, comes extremely close. There are even fossils on the borders of plates that match with fossils on the borders of other plates. T...

    Read More

  • Oceanic Tides Exploration

    1107 Words  | 3 Pages

    I decided to focus this Mathematical Exploration on the math behind oceanic tides. I began by looking at the generic possibilities set out by my teacher. Among them was the idea of math being applied to water. In my initial search I found nothing that seemed interesting to me, however, I wanted to stick to the broad topic of water. After continued search I decided to focus on a subject important to me the ocean, specifically oceanic tides. Every year my family takes a trip to California for a week at the beach and since I was a little kid I was perplexed that the water would come up the beach at night and recede during the day. As I grew older and I learned this movement was called the tide and was caused by the moon and the sun’s gravity affecting the ocean. Thus I decided to take the exploration as a chance to further my knowledge of this subject and tides became my subject for this.

    Read More

  • Essay On North American Plate

    1327 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...t of laurasia, just like most of the other plates. North America,Europe, and Green land all used to be connect because of Pangea ( as mentioned earlier). But when everything started to separate, first europe, then green land, and lastly the North American plate. After pangea was no more and the plates all started moving, the continents started going their own ways, there fore putting the continents where they are today.

    Read More

  • The Great Alaska Earthquake

    921 Words  | 2 Pages

    Additionally, this earthquake occurred on a thrust fault. This fault was a subduction zone slip which occurred primarily beneath the ocean were the Pacific plate plunges underneath the North American plate. This sudden upward movement of the sea floor along the rupturing fault generated a massive tsunami. This vertical deformation

    Read More

  • Ocean Conservancy Paper

    1143 Words  | 3 Pages

    Non- governmental marine based organizations aim to improve, protect and conserve the planet’s marine life and ecosystems. Two of these notable organizations are Oceana and the Ocean Conservancy. Both of these groups operate worldwide and solely base their work and focus on oceans and aquatic ecosystems. They also share one main objective out of many, to protect and improve marine biodiversity. Even though Oceana and the Ocean Research and Conservation Association share some similar aspects, they both have different approaches and differ in certain goals.

    Read More

  • Coal Mining Pros And Cons

    889 Words  | 2 Pages

    As the tectonic plates slide over each other, they cause earthquakes. Earthquakes produce various damaging effects, this includes damage to structures of buildings, bridges and other standing formations which then result in injuries and people getting killed, wildlife getting disrupted as well as humans. An earthquake can affect the earth as it’s easier to let the lava come out of the earth. Tsunamis- Can cause financial problems such as home loss, job loss which will then result in being homeless, loss of crops and food supplies which causes a lot of harm to us ‘humans’. A tsunami is a series of waves that send surges of water that can travel thousands of miles.

    Read More

  • Continetal drift theory

    1845 Words  | 4 Pages

    Soon after the Atlantic Ocean had been mapped, about three hundred years ago, it was noticed that the opposite coasts had similar shapes, but it was not until the middle of the 19th century that accurate maps were published demonstrating that the two coasts could be fitted together quite closely. Some geologists then suggested that the fit of the coasts was not an accident--that the continents were once joined and had subsequently drifted apart. None of the suggestions were taken seriously.

    Read More

  • Plate Tectonics Essay

    1453 Words  | 3 Pages

    Convergent boundaries, divergent boundaries and convection currents all examples of physical evidence that supports the theory of plate tectonics. Continental drift is the theory contrived by Alfred Wegener in 1912 that states that Earth’s tectonic plates are in slow constant movement. At the time he didn’t know how the continents moved. The theory was soon modernized in the 50’s and the theory of plate tectonics became was born. Plate tectonics is the theory that tectonic plates are in slow constant movement due to convection currents in the mantle. Now we know for sure, thanks to scientific studies of convergent boundaries, divergent boundaries, and convection currents in the Earth’s mantle, that the continental drift and plate tectonics theories are not

    Read More

More about Se Sea Floor Spreading Research Paper

Open Document