| We use the concept of sea floor spreading for explaining many or most of the important morphological features of ocean basins. |
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| This is feasible — continental drift and sea floor spreading rate change have been postulated as possible causes of such a change. |
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| A major incentive was to test the newly developed model of plate tectonics and sea floor spreading. |
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| Thus, sea floor spreading from a central ridge will produce pairs of magnetic stripes parallel to the ridge. |
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| This is part of the system of mid-ocean ridges that form as the tectonic plates of the Earth's crust move apart a process known as sea floor spreading. |
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| In contrast, the inception of sea floor spreading documents a pronounced volcanic phase which appears to reflect asthenospheric upwelling as well as rift-induced convection particularly in the narrow southern margin. |
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| Since the new oceanic basins are shallower than the old oceanic basins, the total capacity of the world's ocean basins decreases during times of active sea floor spreading. |
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| Sea floor spreading is the process by which the oceanic lithosphere splits at oceanic ridges and moves away from ridge axes with a motion like that of a conveyor belt. |
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| Sea floor spreading can stop during the process, but if it continues to the point that the continent is completely severed, then a new ocean basin is created. |
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