Download Student Name: Hour: _____ Today`s Date

Student Name: ________________________ Hour: _____ Today’s Date: ____________
Sea-floor Spreading Model Activity: Analysis Questions
Directions: Using your sea-floor spreading model to help you, read each question carefully and answer
each question in a complete sentence.
1.
What is happening at Point B? What feature occurs at the corresponding location on the
seafloor? _________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
2.
What is happening at Points A and C? What features occur at corresponding locations on the
seafloor? _________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
3.
If you were to sample and date the rocks along the colored strip starting at Point B and moving
toward Point A, what change if any would you see in the age of the rocks?__________________
_________________________________________________________________________
4.
If you were to sample and date the rocks along the colored strip starting at Point B and moving
toward Point C, what change if any would you see in the age of the rocks? _________________
_________________________________________________________________________
5.
In this model, what do the strips represent? What do the colors represent? ______________
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6.
New sea-floor rock is continually being formed at mid-ocean ridges and old sea-floor rock is
continually removed at ocean trenches. If the rock on the continents is continually formed but
not removed, how would the age of the oldest rocks on the continents compare with the age of
the oldest rocks on the sea-floor? ______________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
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7.
What causes the plates to be pulled apart? ________________________________________
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8.
The Earth is about 4.6 billion years old. Based on observations of your sea-floor spreading model,
why do you think that the oldest ocean floor is only about 200 million years old? ____________
_________________________________________________________________________
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9.
Look at the map on the right showing some of
Earth’s plates and the direction of their
motion. What is happening to the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans? Explain your answers.
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