EARTH SCIENCE
Topic: Understanding Seafloor Spreading
Objectives:
1. discuss the process of seafloor spreading; and
2. explain how the convection currents in the earth’s interior make the seafloor spread.
3. describe the three evidence that seafloor is continuously spreading.
Background Information
Before scientists invented sonar – a device that bounces sound waves off underwater objects and then record
the echoes of these sound waves, many people believed that the ocean floor was a completely a flat surface. But in
the data in records up to this day, the seafloor is far from flat. In fact, the tallest mountain and deepest canyons are
found on the ocean floor; far taller and deeper than any landforms found on the continents.
During World War II, using the magnetometers that were attached to ships scientists discovered a lot about
the magnetic properties of the seafloor. Sometimes, no one really knows why the magnetic poles switch positions.
North becomes the south and vice versa. Geologists say that polarity is normal when the north and south are aligned
while when they are in the opposite position, the polarity is reversed. They found that magnetic polarity in the seafloor
was normal at mid-ocean ridges but reversed in symmetrical patterns away from the ridge center. This normal and
reversed pattern continues across the seafloor. Scientists were surprised to discover that the normal and reversed
magnetic polarity of seafloor basalts creates a pattern of magnetic stripes. The seafloor has different features which
includes continental shelf, continental slope, abyssal plain, mid-ocean ridge, seamount and trench.
In 1960, the American geophysicist, Harry Hess explained how the convection currents in the Earth’s interior
make the seafloor spread. Convection current carry heat from the molten materials in the mantle and core towards
the lithosphere. These current ensures that the “recycled” materials formed in the lithosphere were back to the
mantle. In this recycling process which was later named as seafloor spreading, the magma moves up from the mantle
and erupts as pillow lava. This forms new oceanic crust at the ridge. Then, as new oceanic crust form, it pushes the
older crust aside. This means that the nearer the ocean floor to the oceanic ridge, the younger it is compared to the
ones farther from the ridge. This crust eventually subducts at the deep ocean trenches and melts back into the mantle.
Then the seafloor spreading continues as a “recycling” process. Record shows that the oldest seafloor is relatively
younger (about 180 million years old) than the oldest rock (about 3 billion years old) found on land.
The following are three evidence that support the idea that seafloor is continuously spreading.
(a.) Evidence from molten materials- rocks shaped like pillows (rock pillows) show that molten materials have
erupted again and again from cracks along the mid ocean ridge and cooled quickly.
(b.) Evidence from magnetic strip- rocks that make up the ocean floor lie in a pattern of magnetized stripes which
hold a record of the reversals in magnetic field; and
(c.) Evidence from drilling sample – core samples from the ocean floor show that older rocks are found farther from
the ridge; youngest rocks are in the mid-ocean ridge
Additional information
The longest chain of mountains in the world is the system of mid-ocean ridges. In the mid-1900s, scientists mapped the mid-
ocean ridges using sonar. Sonar is a device that bounces sound waves off underwater objects and then records the echoes of these
sound waves. The mid-ocean ridges curve along the sea floor, extending into all of Earth’s oceans. Most of the mountains in the mid-
ocean ridges lie hidden under hundreds of meters of water. A steep-sided valley splits the top of some mid-ocean ridges. The Earth’s
ocean floors move like conveyor belts, carrying the continents along with them, as they move. This movement begins at a mid-ocean
ridge. A ridge forms along a crack in the oceanic crust. At a mid-ocean ridge, molten material rises from the mantle and erupts. The
molten material then spreads out, pushing older rock to both sides of the ridge. As the molten material cools, it forms a strip of solid
rock in the center of the ridge. Then more molten material splits apart the strip of solid rock that formed before, pushing it aside. This
process, called sea-floor spreading, continually adds new material to the ocean floor.
Scientists have found strange rocks shaped like pillows in the central valley of mid-ocean ridges. Such rocks can form only if
molten material hardens quickly after erupting under water. The presence of these rocks supports the theory of sea-floor spreading.
More support came when scientists discovered that the rock that makes up the ocean floor lies in a pattern of magnetized “stripes. The
pattern is the same on both sides of the ridge. These stripes hold a record of reversals in Earth’s magnetic field. The final proof of sea-
floor spreading came from rock samples obtained by drilling into the ocean floor. Scientists found that the farther from a ridge the
rocks were taken, the older they were. The ocean floor does not just keep spreading. Instead, it sinks beneath deep underwater canyons
called deep-ocean trenches. Where there are trenches, subduction takes place. Subduction is the process by which the ocean floor
sinks beneath a deep-ocean trench and back into the mantle. At deep-ocean trenches, subduction allows part of the ocean floor to sink
back into the mantle, over tens of millions of years.
The processes of subduction and sea-floor spreading can change the size and shape of the oceans. Because of these processes,
the ocean floor is renewed about every 200 million years. The Pacific Ocean is shrinking. Its many trenches are swallowing more ocean
crust than the mid-ocean ridge is producing. The Atlantic Ocean is expanding. In most places, the oceanic crust of the Atlantic Ocean is
attached to continental crust. As the Atlantic’s floor spreads, the continents along its edges also move.
II. U se the figure below to answer the questions that follow. Answer the questions on a separate
sheet of paper.
Topic: Structure and Evolution of Ocean Basin
Objectives:
1. Identify and describe the structure of the ocean basin.
2. Trace the stages of the evolution of the ocean basin.
Background Information
Less than 100 million years ago the supercontinent Pangea had existed. Because of tectonic forces and
processes, the supercontinent breaks apart and ocean basins are formed. The ocean basins cover the largest area of
the earth’s surface. All of the ocean basins were formed from volcanic rock that was released from the fissures that is
located at the mid-ocean ridges, which is an underwater mountain range formed by plate tectonics. Through
subduction process and high gravitational energy, oceanic lithosphere is forced to move under the mantle. Over years,
ocean basins are continuously evolving as four major ocean subdivision is formed. The world ocean is divided into the
North and South Pacific, North and South Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic Oceans. They are all distinct based on their stage
of geological evolution.
Pacific Ocean basin is the largest, deepest, and oldest existing ocean basin. More trenches, and more frequent
tsunamis happen here. It has been shaped by plate tectonics. The second largest ocean basin is the Atlantic followed
by the Indian ocean basin. The smallest of the earth’s ocean basins is Arctic and is covered by ice.
Through the formation of ocean basins, different features and structures are formed. See figure 2 below.
1. Continental shelf- Partly shallow extension of the continent underwater.
2. Continental slope- Transition zone of continental shelf and deep ocean floor. It starts from oceanic crust to
continental crust.
3. Continental rise- It is where the ocean begins. All basaltic and oceanic rocks are found here. It is the place where
the sediments from land are washed. The continental margin starts from continental helf up to continental rise.
4. Abyssal plain- The flattest part of the ocean. 50 % of the earth’s surface is being covered by this plain.
5. Island- It’s not just a piece of land floating up in the middle of the sea, it is part of the ocean basin that extends up
from the ocean floor.
6. Seamount- It is an undersea mountain. The erosion caused by waves destroyed the top of a seamount which caused
it to be flattened.
7. Trench- It is the deepest part of the ocean.
8. Mid-oceanic ridge- The seafloor mountain system which is situated in the middle of the ocean basin. It is where
upwelling of magma happens which causes the sea floor to spread.
Evolution of the Ocean Basin
The Wilson Cycle explains the process of the opening (beginning) and
the closing (end) of an ocean which is driven by Plate Tectonics. This process
is named after the Canadian Geophysicist J. Tuzo Wilson (1908-1993).
It is divided into 6 stages namely:
1. Embryonic Ocean Basin
2. Juvenile Ocean Basin
3. Mature Ocean Basin
4. Declining Ocean Basin
5. Terminal Ocean Basin
6. Suturing (Continental collision)
The table below gives details on each stage of Wilson Cycle
Table 1. Stages of Wilson Cycle
Stage Description Example
Embryonic ● Motion: Uplift East African Rift Valleys
● Complex system of linear rift
valleys on continent
Juvenile ● Motion: Divergence (Spreading) Red Sea
● Narrow seas with matching coasts
Mature ● Motion: Divergence (Spreading) Atlantic and Arctic Oceans
● Ocean basin with continental
margins
Declining ● Motion: Convergent (Subduction) Pacific Ocean
● Islands arcs and trenches around
basin edge
Terminal ● Motion: Convergent (Collision and Mediterranean an Seas
Uplift)
● Narrow, irregular seas with young
mountains
Suturing ● Motion: Convergence and Uplift Himalayas Mountains
● Young mature mountain belts
What’s More The Ocean Basin to
FUN FACTS!
• The oldest ocean-floor rocks are 190 million years old, whereas the oldest continental rocks are 3.8 billion
(3800 million) years old. New ocean floor seems to form at different rates in different ocean basins and over time.
• It is very difficult to get information about landforms of the ocean basin, such as trenches and mid-ocean
ridges. These landforms are thousands of feet below the surface of the water. Few instruments can endure the
intense pressure, cold, and dark at the bottom of ocean basins. Occasionally, researchers themselves explore ocean
basins in special submarines called submersibles.
• Numerous volcanoes populate the floor of the ocean basins. Scientists estimate that there are approximately 10,
000 volcanoes on the ocean floor.
• Mid-ocean ridge is normally found rising the ocean floor at the center of the ocean basins.