Abstract
IF newly formed oceanic crust is moving away from a spreading axis, it can be expected to contract by cooling. Vertically, the cooling is expressed in the existence and cross-sectional shape of the mid ocean ridges, where there is a relationship between depth of the ocean and age of the crust1. A steady state solution for a model of a lithospheric plate which cools while moving2–4 is compatible with data on topographical height.
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COLLETTE, B. Thermal contraction joints in a spreading seafloor as origin of fracture zones. Nature 251, 299–300 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/251299a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/251299a0
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