Question

Assuming that the South Atlantic began forming 135 million years ago, and has been spreading steadily ever since, calculate the full seafloor spreading rate in cm/yr at Buenos Aires (35º S latitude) (4,000 km away from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge).

Answer 1

Answer:

The seafloor spreading has been at a rate of 2.96 cm per year.

Explanation:

To get to the result, or rather the rate of seafloor spreading at Buenos Aires, we need to convert the km into cm as that is what is required as a unit.

1 m = 100 cm

1,000 m = 1 km

100 x 1,000 = 100,000 cm

4,000 x 100,000 = 400,000,000 cm

Now we need to divide the amount of cm with the amount of years in question (135 million).

400,000,000 / 135,000,000 = 2.96 cm/y

We get to a result that the average seafloor spreading rate at Buenos Aires in the last 135 million years has been 2.96 cm.