spreading center

American  

[spred-ing sen-ter] / ˈsprɛd ɪŋ ˈsɛn tər /

noun

Geology.

1. a linear zone in the seafloor along which magma rises and from which adjacent crustal plates are moving apart.

---

Etymology

Origin of spreading center

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

Every plate-boundary spreading center is a potential colonization area.

From Science Daily • Mar. 15, 2024

The volcanic spreading center — more than 300 miles long — lies in a slanted line off the West Coast, from British Columbia to Oregon.

From New York Times • Jan. 12, 2016

Huybers and his colleagues are now working to tease out the ice age signal from another medium-rate spreading center, the Juan de Fuca Ridge, off the coast of the U.S.

From Science Magazine • Feb. 5, 2015

The study in Science was based on fresh ocean-floor data gathered by a Korean icebreaker ship during 2011 and 2013 surveys across the Australian-Antarctic ridge, a spreading center south of Tasmania.

From Science Magazine • Feb. 5, 2015

Vast streamers of flaming gas leaped and darted about its spreading center.

From Palos of the Dog Star Pack by Giesy, J. U.