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Ch. 17 Sec. 2. Sea-Floor Spreading. Oceanic crust forms at ocean ridges and becomes part of the seafloor. Review Vocabulary. basalt: a dark-gray to black fine-grained igneous rock. I. Mapping the Ocean Floor.
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Ch. 17 Sec. 2 Sea-Floor Spreading
Oceanic crust forms at ocean ridges and becomes part of the seafloor. Review Vocabulary basalt: a dark-gray to black fine-grained igneous rock
I. Mapping the Ocean Floor Until the mid-1900’s, many scientists thought that the ocean floors were essentially flat and that oceanic crust was unchanging and was much older than continental crust. Advances in technology during the 1940’s and 1950’s showed that all of these widely accepted ideas were incorrect.
A. Magnetometer - device that can detect small changes in magnetic fields
B. Sonar 1. Bounces sound waves off underwater objects 2. Echoes determine distance to object 3. Maps ocean floor topography
B. Deep-sea trenches Pg. 474 Fig. 17.8
The deepest trench, the Mariana Trench, is more than 11 km deep. Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain, stands at 9 km above sea level, and could fit inside the Mariana Trench with six Empire State buildings stacked on top.
III. Ocean Rocks & Sediments A. Glomar Challenger (drilling ship) 1. Youngest rock sample near ridge 2. Oldest rocks near continents
B. Evidence 1. Molten material a. Alvin (submarine) b. Rock samples
C. Sediments 1. Thickness of ocean-floor sediments increases with distance from an ocean ridge
Section 17.2 IV. Magnetism • Earth’s magnetic field 1. Flow of molten iron in the outer core 2. Magnetic reversal a. Flow in the outer core changes b. Earth’s magnetic field changes direction
B. Magnetic polarity time scale 1. Paleomagnetism - the study of the history of Earth’s magnetic field 2. Lava solidifies a. iron-bearing minerals crystallize b. align with Earth’s magnetic field
Pg. 476 Fig. 17.10 Periods of normal polarity alternate with periods of reversed polarity. Long-term changes in Earth’s magnetic field, called epochs, are named as shown here. Short-term changes are called events.
Seafloor Spreading FIG 17. 12 Pg. 477 Regions of normal and reverse polarity form a series of stripes across the ocean floor parallel to the ocean ridges. The ages and widths of the stripes match from one side of the ridges to the other.
3. Isochron - imaginary line on a map a. points that have the same age
V. Sea-floor spreading • Harry Hess studied mid-ocean ridges 1. Maybe Wegener was right
B.New material added to ocean floor • Spreads apart at ridges • Moves ocean floor & continents
C.Molten material rises • Pushes older rock outward • New material cools
VI. Subduction at Trenches • Ocean floor sinks back into mantle 1. Gravity pulls old, dense rock down 2. Occurs at deep-ocean trenches
B.Changes size & shape of oceans • Pacific Ocean is shrinking a. More subduction than new crust forming 2. Atlantic is expanding
Oceanic crust forms at ocean ridges and becomes part of the seafloor. • Studies of the seafloor provided evidence that the ocean floor is not flat and unchanging. • Oceanic crust is geologically young.
New oceanic crust forms as magma rises at ridges and solidifies. • As new oceanic crust forms, the older crust moves away from the ridges.