Mechanisms Ridge Push And Slab Pull

Question 1

the pulling force exerted by a cold, dense oceanic plate plunging into the mantle due to
its own weight. The theory is that because the oceanic plate is denser than the hotter mantle beneath it, this contrast in density causes the plate to sink into the mantle. The process of a tectonic plate descending into the mantle is termed subduction.

The subduction happens along distance from spreading centers, where the plates have time to cool off. Lower temperature makes the plate denser than the other plate causing it to subduct into the mantle. As the plate edge is drawn under, it pulls the remainder of the plate behind it.

Answer 1

Slab pull

Question 2

(also known as gravitational sliding) or sliding plate force is a proposed driving force for
plate motion in plate tectonics that occurs at mid-ocean ridges as the result of the rigid lithosphere sliding down the hot, raised asthenosphere below mid-ocean ridges. Although it is called ridge push, the term is somewhat misleading; it is actually a body force that acts throughout an ocean plate, not just at the ridge, as a result of gravitational pull. The name comes from earlier models of plate tectonics in which ridge push was primarily ascribed to upwelling magma at mid-ocean ridges pushing or wedging the plates apart.

Because of the convection, the mantle wells upward and elevates the edges of the spreading oceanic plates. These plates are elevated at the spreading center and are forced downward due to gravity and gradually flatten out to the ocean floor. Gravity causes this movement down the ridge and gives the plate a push along as new crust forms behind the plate at the spreading center.

Answer 2

Ridge push

Question 3

What causes ridge push?

Answer 3

Gravitational force causes a plate to move away from the crest of an oceanic ridge, and into a subduction zone.