The Continents And Ocean Floor Are On Lithospheric Plates

What analogy did wegener use to describe how continents move through the ocean floor.

The continents and ocean floor are on lithospheric plates.

Plate tectonics and the ocean floor bathymetry the shape of the ocean floor is largely a result of a process called plate tectonics. Long chain of mountains with a central rift valley that is located along a divergent boundary on the ocean floor. The north american and eurasian tectonic plates for example are separated by the mid atlantic ridge. The lithosphere is broken up into seven very large continental and ocean sized plates six or seven medium sized regional plates and several small ones.

American pacific african eurasian australian indian and antarctic. The outer rocky layer of the earth includes about a dozen large sections called tectonic plates that are arranged like a spherical jig saw puzzle floating on top of the earth s hot flowing mantle. Plates that are not subducting are driven by gravity sliding off the elevated mid ocean ridges a process called ridge push. The motivating force for seafloor spreading ridges is tectonic plate slab pull at subduction zones rather than magma pressure although there is typically significant magma activity at spreading ridges.

Briefly describe the view most geologists had about ocean basins and continents prior to the 1960s. These plates move relative to each other typically at rates of 5 to 10 cm 2 to 4 inches per year and interact along their boundaries where they converge diverge or slip past one another. Theory that lithospheric plates move and interact.