seafloor spreading
Sign in to saveAlso known as sea floor spreading, sea-floor-spreading, seafloorspreading
process at mid-ocean ridges, where new oceanic crust is formed through volcanic activity and then gradually moves away from the ridge
~19 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Age of oceanic lithosphere; youngest (light colour) is along spreading centers
Seafloor spreading, or seafloor spread, is a process that occurs at mid-ocean ridges, where new oceanic crust is formed through volcanic activity and then gradually moves away from the ridge.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “seafloor spreading” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.