CHAPTER 7

LESSON 2
Plate Tectonics

Development of a Theory
Key Concepts
• What is seafloor spreading?
• What evidence is used to
What do you think? Read the two statements below and decide
whether you agree or disagree with them. Place an A in the Before column
support seafloor spreading? if you agree with the statement or a D if you disagree. After you’ve read
this lesson, reread the statements to see if you have changed your mind.
Before Statement After
3. The seafloor is flat.

4. Volcanic activity occurs only on the seafloor.

3TUDY #OACH

Two-Column Notes As you

read, organize your notes in
Mapping the Ocean Floor
two columns. In the left Scientists began exploring the seafloor in greater detail
column, write the main idea during the late 1940s. They used a device called an echo
of each paragraph. In the sounder to measure the depths of the ocean floor. An echo
right column, write details sounder produces sound waves that travel from a ship to the
that support each main idea. seafloor. The waves echo, or bounce, off the seafloor and back

Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Review your notes to help to the ship. The echo sounder records the time it takes the
you remember the details of
echo to return. When the ocean is deeper, the time it takes
the lesson.
for the sound waves to bounce back is longer. Scientists
calculated ocean depths and used these data to create
topographic maps of the seafloor.
These new topographic maps showed large mountain
ranges that stretched for many miles along the seafloor. The
mountain ranges in the middle of the oceans are called mid-ocean
ridges. Mid-ocean ridges, shown in the figure below, are
much longer than any mountain range on land.

Mid-ocean ridge
Sediment

Visual Check Magma

1. Identify Circle the area
on the map that shows the
mid-ocean ridge.

96 Plate Tectonics Reading Essentials

 Seafloor Spreading
By the 1960s, scientists had discovered a new process to
Make a layered book to
help explain continental drift. This process is called seafloor record your notes and
spreading. Seafloor spreading is the process by which new oceanic illustrate seafloor spreading.
crust forms along a mid-ocean ridge and older oceanic crust moves
away from the ridge.
Seafloor
When the seafloor spreads, Earth’s mantle melts and Spreading
forms magma. The liquid magma is less dense than the solid
mantle. The magma rises through cracks in the crust along
the mid-ocean ridge. When magma reaches Earth’s surface,
it is called lava. Key Concept Check
As the lava cools and crystallizes on the seafloor, it 2. Identify What is seafloor
forms a type of rock called basalt. Oceanic crust is mostly spreading?
basalt. Because the lava erupts into water, it cools rapidly.
The rapidly cooling lava forms rounded structures called
pillow lava.
As the seafloor spreads apart, new crust that is forming
pushes the older crust away from the mid-ocean ridge. The Visual Check
mid-ocean ridge, at the center of this formation, is shown 3. Interpret Propose a
below. The closer the crust is to a mid-ocean ridge, the pattern that exists in rocks on
either side of the mid-ocean
younger the oceanic crust is. Scientists concluded that as the
ridge.
seafloor spreads, the continents must be moving. Seafloor
spreading is the mechanism that explains Wegener’s
hypothesis of continental drift.
Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Older Older
Oldest Youngest Oldest

Mid-ocean
ridge

Oceanic crust
Continental Continental
crust crust

Magma
Asthenosphere Asthenosphere

Reading Essentials Plate Tectonics 97

 Topography of the Seafloor
What determines the topography of the ocean floor? One
factor is seafloor spreading. The rugged mountains that
make up the mid-ocean ridge system can form in two
Reading Check
different ways. Some form as large amounts of lava erupt
4. Describe How do from the center of the ridge. That lava cools and builds up
mountains form along a
mid-ocean ridge? around the ridge. Others form as the lava cools and forms
new crust that cracks. The rocks move up or down along
these cracks and form jagged mountains.
Sediment also determines the topography of the ocean
floor. Close to a mid-ocean ridge, the crust is young, and
there is not much sediment. However, farther from the ridge,
sediment becomes thick enough to make the seafloor
smooth. This deep, smooth part of the ocean floor, shown
below, is called the abyssal (uh BIH sul) plain.

Mid-ocean ridge

Abyssal plain

Sediment

Continental
Oceanic crust crust

Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Magma

Visual Check Moving Continents Around

The theory of seafloor spreading provides a way to
5. Compare the
explain how continents move. Continents do not move
topography of a mid-ocean
ridge to an abyssal plain. through the solid mantle or the seafloor. However, seafloor
spreading suggests that continents move as the seafloor
spreads along a mid-ocean ridge.

Development of a Theory
Just as evidence was needed to support continental drift,
evidence was needed to support seafloor spreading. Some of
the evidence to support seafloor spreading came from rocks
Reading Check on the ocean floor that were not covered with sediment.
6. Identify What evidence Scientists studied the magnetic signatures of minerals in
supports seafloor spreading? these rocks. They discovered two important things. First,
Earth’s magnetic field changes. Second, these changes appear
in rocks that make up the ocean floor.

98 Plate Tectonics Reading Essentials

 Magnetic Reversals
Earth’s iron-rich, liquid outer core is like a giant magnet
that creates Earth’s magnetic field. The direction of this
magnetic field is not always the same. Today’s magnetic field
is described as having normal polarity. Normal polarity is a
state in which magnetized objects, such as compass needles, will orient
themselves to point north.
Sometimes a magnetic reversal occurs and the magnetic field
reverses direction. The opposite of normal polarity is reversed
polarity. Reversed polarity is a state in which magnetized objects
reverse direction and orient themselves to point south. Reading Check
Magnetic reversals have occurred hundreds of times in 7. Identify Does Earth’s
Earth’s past. They occur every few hundred thousand to magnetic field currently have
normal or reversed polarity?
every few million years.

Rocks Reveal Magnetic Signature

Ocean crust contains large amounts of basalt. Basalt
contains iron-rich minerals that are magnetic. Each mineral
acts like a small magnet. The figure below shows how
magnetic minerals align themselves with Earth’s magnetic
field. When lava erupts along a mid-ocean ridge, it cools,
crystallizes, and permanently records the direction of Earth’s
magnetic field at the time of the eruption. Scientists have
discovered parallel patterns in the magnetic signature of
rocks on either side of mid-ocean ridges. For example, in the
figure below, notice the normal pattern exists closest to
Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

either side of the mid-ocean ridge. Likewise, the reversed

polarity pattern exists at about the same distance on either
side of the mid-ocean ridge.

Normal Normal
Reversed Reversed

Visual Check
8. Describe the pattern in
the magnetic stripes shown
in the image to the left.

Oceanic crust
Lithosphere
Asthenosphere

Reading Essentials Plate Tectonics 99

 Evidence to Support the Theory
To support the theory of seafloor spreading, scientists
collected data about the magnetic minerals in rocks from the
seafloor. They used a magnetometer (mag nuh TAH muh tur)
to measure and record the magnetic signature of these rocks.
The data collected showed parallel magnetic stripes on either
Reading Check side of the mid-ocean ridge, as shown below. What do these
9. Discuss How do stripes mean?
magnetic minerals help
support the theory of Each pair of magnetic stripes is similar in composition,
seafloor spreading? age, and magnetic character. Each stripe also records whether
Earth’s magnetic field was in a period of normal or reversed
polarity when the crust formed. Notice that the stripes on
either side of the ridge are the same. This pattern supports
the idea that ocean crust forms along mid-ocean ridges and
is carried away from the center of the ridges.

Normal polarity Reversed polarity Mid-ocean ridge

Magma
rises

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5 4 3 2 1 present 1 2 3 4 5
Age of rocks (millions of years)

Other measurements made on the seafloor confirm

Visual Check
seafloor spreading. Scientists drilled holes in the seafloor and
10. Determine What measured the temperature below the surface. These
was the polarity of Earth’s
temperatures show how much thermal energy leaves Earth.
magnetic field 4 million
years ago? Scientists discovered that more thermal energy leaves Earth
near mid-ocean ridges than is released from beneath abyssal
plains. In addition, studies of sediment show that sediment
closest to a mid-ocean ridge is younger and thinner than
Reading Check sediment farther away from the ridge.
11. Locate Where does
more thermal energy leave
Earth—near mid-ocean
ridges or beneath abyssal
plains?

100 Plate Tectonics Reading Essentials

 Mini Glossary
magnetic reversal: when a magnetic field reverses direction reversed polarity: a state in which magnetized objects
reverse direction and orient themselves to point south
mid-ocean ridge: a mountain range in the middle of the
ocean seafloor spreading: the process by which new oceanic crust
forms along a mid-ocean ridge and older oceanic crust
normal polarity: a state in which magnetized objects, such moves away from the ridge
as compass needles, will orient themselves to point north

1. Review the terms and their definitions in the Mini Glossary. Write one or two original
sentences to explain seafloor spreading.

2. Use words from the word bank to complete the events chain. Use each word only once.
crust lava mid-ocean ridge new oceanic old vents

Magma rises through cracks in the along a .

erupts from volcanic in the ridge.

Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Lava cools and hardens to form new crust.

ocean crust pushes crust away from the ridge.

3. What is the difference between normal polarity and reversed polarity?

What do you think

Reread the statements at the beginning of the Connect ED
lesson. Fill in the After column with an A if you Log on to ConnectED.mcgraw-hill.com
agree with the statement or a D if you disagree. and access your textbook to find this END OF
Did you change your mind? lesson’s resources. LESSON

Reading Essentials Plate Tectonics 101

Name Date Class

Content Vocabulary LESSON 2

Development of a Theory
Directions: Explain the relationship between the terms in each pair on the lines provided. Use complete sentences.

1. mid-ocean ridge; seafloor spreading

2. normal polarity; reversed polarity

3. magnetic reversal; reversed polarity

Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

4. normal; normal polarity

26 Plate Tectonics
 Name Date Class

Lesson Outline LESSON 2

Development of a Theory
A. Mapping the Ocean Floor
1. Scientists mapped the depth of the ocean floor using a device called
a(n) .
2. In the middle of the oceans are large mountain ranges
called .
a. Existence of these was confirmed through research
called echo-sounder research.
b. These underwater mountain ranges are much than
mountain ranges on land.
B. Seafloor Spreading
1. occurs when new oceanic crust forms at a mid-ocean
ridge and old crust moves away from the ridge.
a. Molten rock, or , rises from the mantle through
cracks in the crust. It erupts as from volcanic vents
along the mid-ocean ridge.
b. The molten rock cools and becomes , the rock that
Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

forms the oceanic crust.

c. New oceanic crust forms along a mid-ocean ridge, and
crust moves away from the ridge.
2. The topography of the includes the abyssal plain and
rugged mountains.
a. The rugged mountains that make up the mid-ocean ridge can form in different
ways. One way is through large amounts of erupting
from the center of the ridge, cooling, and building up around the ridge. Another
way is through upward-moving pushing on the crust
above it, causing it to crack and form jagged, angular mountains on the seafloor.
b. Eventually, forms on top of the oldest oceanic crust,
making smooth seafloor called the .
3. Seafloor spreading helps explain continental drift because it shows that continents
move with the oceanic as it spreads away from mid-
ocean ridges.

Plate Tectonics 27
Name Date Class

Lesson Outline continued

C. Development of a Theory
1. Evidence to support seafloor spreading first came from studying the
of rocks on the seafloor.
2. Earth’s outer core causes Earth’s .

a. The direction of Earth’s magnetic field often.

b. When a magnetic field causes a magnet to point north, the magnetic field
has .
c. A magnetic field reverses direction during a(n) .
d. After a magnetic reversal, a magnet points south because Earth’s magnetic field
has .
3. form when iron-rich minerals in cooling lava align
with the direction of Earth’s magnetic field.
a. The direction of a magnetic field in minerals can be determined by using a device
called a(n) .
b. Magnetometers show magnetic stripes on either side
of a mid-ocean ridge.
c. These stripes alternate normal polarity and , showing

Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

that each stripe was formed at the mid-ocean ridge and then moved away.
4. Sediment collected from the seafloor show that sediment farther away from a
mid-ocean ridge is than the sediment that is closer to
the ridge.

28 Plate Tectonics