Question

Harry Hess and Robert Dietz proposed that the oceanic crust in the Atlantic Ocean was spreading apart at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and that this process moved the continents apart from one another. They called this process:________.

Answer 1

Seafloor spreading

Step-by-step explanation:

Seafloor spreading is a phenomenon that occurs in a divergent plate boundary. In the case of a divergent plate boundary, the plates migrate in the opposite direction. Due to this divergent motion of plates, the lithosphere becomes thin at the spreading zone which is commonly known as the mid-oceanic ridge. The magma from the subsurface erupts at the seafloor causing the plates to move apart, due to the formation of convection current in the mantle. The crust gains new materials at this ridge and these are considered to be the geologically youngest rocks.

This process of divergent motion of continents (plates) is commonly known as the seafloor spreading.