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Plate Tectonics and Sea-floor Spreading
The theory of plate tectonics describes the motions of thelithosphere, the comparatively rigid outer layer of the Earth thatincludes all the crust
and part of the underlying mantle.The lithosphere is divided into a few dozen plates of various sizes andshapes, in general the plates are in motion with respect to one another. Amid-ocean ridge is a boundary between plates where new lithosphericmaterial is injected from belows. As the plates diverge from a mid-oceanridge they slide on a more yielding
layer at the base of the lithosphere.Since thesize of the Earth is essentially constant, new lithosphere can be created at the mid-ocean ridges only if an equal amount of lithospheric material isconsumed elsewhere. The site of this destruction is another kind of plateboundary: a subduction zone. There one plate dives under the edge of anotherand is reincorporated into the mantle. Both kinds of plate boundary areassociated with fault systems, earthquakes and volcanism, but thekinds of geologic activity observed at the two boundaries are quitedifferent.
The idea of sea-floor spreading actually preceded thetheory of plate tectonics. In its original version, in the early 1960's, itdescribed the creation and destruction of the ocean floor, but it did notspecify rigid lithospheric plates. The hypothesis was substantiated soonafterward by the discovery that periodic reversals of the Earth's magneticfield are recorded in the oceanic crust. As magma rises under the mid-ocean ridge, ferromagnetic minerals in the magma becomemagnetized in the direction of the geomagnetic field. When the magma coolsand solidifies, the direction and the polarity of the field are preserved inthe magnetized volcanic rock. Reversals of the field give rise to a seriesof magnetic
stripes running parallel to the axis of the rift. Theoceanic crust thus serves as a magnetic tape recording of the history of the geomagneticfield that can be dated independently; the width of the stripes indicatesthe rate of the sea-floor spreading.
全文翻译：板块结构与海床扩展
板块结构理论描述岩石圈的运动。岩石圈是相对坚硬的地球外层，包括全部地壳和部分地幔。岩石圈被划分为几十个大小不同形状各异的板块，一般而言这些板块都处于相对 运动之中。 一道中海脊是板块之间的边界，在那里新的岩石圈的物质从下部注入。当板块从中海脊脱离时，它们滑向在岩石圈基部较易变形的地层上。因为地球的大小本质上是不变的，只有同等数量的岩石圈物质在其它地方被吞没，新的岩石圈才能生成。销毁旧岩石圈的地方形成另外一种板块边界：一块潜没的区域。在这里，一块板块潜没到另一板块的边缘之下并结合入地幔之中。
两种板块边界均与地层系统、地震以及火山活动有关，但在两种边界处观察到的诸般地质活动却迥然不同。海床扩展说实际上早于板块结构理论。在20世纪60年代它的理论雏形中，描述了海底的生成和毁灭，但没有详细介绍坚硬的岩石圈板块。这个假定不久之后为发现所证实。 该发现表明地球磁场周期性的逆转被记录在海洋地壳中。当岩浆从中海脊下涌起的时候，岩浆中的磁铁矿物质按地磁场的方向被磁化。岩浆冷却并凝固下来后，地磁场的方向和磁极被保留在磁化了的火山岩中。磁场的逆转形成一系列与断层轴线平行的条形磁区。这样海洋壳就扮演了磁带的角色，记录下可以鉴定时间的地磁场的历史。条形磁区的宽度表明了海底扩展的速度。
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