Definitions for "SEAFLOOR SPREADING"
Keywords:  tectonics, hess, ridge, harry, crust
The mechanism by which new seafloor is created at ridges at divergent plate boundaries as adjacent plates move apart. This process may continue at a few centimeters per year through many geologic periods.
Theory in which new oceanic crust is created by volcanic eruptions at the mid-ocean ridge. As new crust is created, it moves away from the ridge at a rate that varies from place to place along the ridge. This movement provides the source of dynamic thrust in the theory of plate tectonics.
the process by which the lithospheric plates either side of an ocean ridge grown by the addition of new material as the plates either side of the ridge move apart.