The following regarding mid-ocean ridges and the process of seafloor spreading

 

“(1) With the aid of neat, informative, well-labeled sketch(es) explain the following regarding mid-ocean ridges and the process of seafloor spreading: (One full page) How and where oceanic crust forms? How and why the age of the oceanic crust changes as you move away from the mid-ocean ridge? How and why the thickness of sediment on top of the oceanic crust varies as you move away from the midocean ridge? How and why the elevation of the seafloor changes as you move away from the mid-ocean ridge?
(2) With the aid of neat, informative, well-labeled sketch(es) explain the features that form as a result of an oceanic tectonic plate (lithospheric plate capped by oceanic crust) moving over a hotspot. ( ½ to ¾ of a page) Include the following: What is a mantle plume and how and where does it produce volcanic activity? The relationship between extinct and active volcanoes with respect to the hotspot. Include a concise explanation and map of the Hawaiian Islands (Hawaii through Kauai only) that indicates the relative ages (which are older/younger), the position of the present-day hotspot, and the relationship between plate motion and the ages of the volcanic islands.
(3) Explain briefly how the processes of slab pull and ridge push help drive plate motion. ( 1/3 to ¼ of a page)”

Sample Solution

The following regarding mid-ocean ridges and the process of seafloor spreading

Oceanic crust, the outermost layer of Earth`s lithosphere that is found under the oceans and formed at spreading centers on oceanic ridges, which occur at divergent plate boundaries. Oceanic crust is about 6 km (4 miles) thick. It is composed of several layers, not including the overlying sediment. The topmost layer, about 500 meters (1,650 feet) thick, includes lavas made of the basalt. Oceanic crust differs from continental crust in several ways: it is thinner, denser, younger, and of different chemical composition. Oceanic crust slowly moves away from mid-ocean ridges and sites of seafloor spreading. As it moves, it becomes cooler, more dense, and more thick. Eventually, older oceanic crust encounters a tectonic boundary with continental crust.

t limit both the entry of entrepreneurs and labour in a countries. This means that there will be transfer of skilled labours from different countries coming together with their manufactures and other entrepreneurs in the country to carry out their operations. This limits the country’s domestic workers from getting such employments and hence increasing the levels of unemployment to developing countries (Trentmann, 2008 p. 73). This increases dependency ratio to these countries and hinders them from realizing developmental goals such as decreasing unemployment rates. Similarly, due to lack of tariffs and barriers to market, many industries are established in the developing countries resulting to losses of some of the industries due to competition and hence the industries move to other countries leaving a gap in employment in the previous country. According to Isis Women, (2014 Free Trade Causes Massive Unemployment) free trade caused massive unemployment in Philippines in 1995 to 2001 with 53 firms being closed down resulting in loss of jobs for 80,319 workers as 29 downsized their human resource causing unemployment of 4,019 jobs. Similarly, free trade in US has led to relocation of most of companies to Mexico, India and other place of the world where tariffs could restrict industries from entry and thus enjoying a stable market. This led to mass unemployment in US.
Free trade has been argued as form of colonialism and imperialism in disguise and instead of contributing to developments it results in exploitation of small developing countries (Igwe, 2013 p. 113). Free trade is believed to benefit industrialized countries because of their capital pot

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