Atlantic Ocean Sea-Floor Crustal Activity
Name_______________________
Date_____
Period______
Background information: After collecting world-wide crustal activity data, you discovered that crustal
activity mainly occurs in specific locations. Some of those locations are along continent margins (active
margins), while other locations are in the middle of oceans. It almost looks like the earth is divided up
into pieces with the boundaries of each piece designated by crustal activity. In today's activity, you are
going to investigate one of those boundaries in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. You will analyze
bathymetric and age data to reach a possible conclusion about the cause of the crustal activity.
Objective: To analyze bathymetric and age data from the Atlantic Ocean sea-floor in order to determine
the cause of crustal activity.
Graded Outcomes:
 Data analysis product(3) 15 points
 Conclusion (15 points)
Data Table: North Atlantic Ocean Bottom Profile
Distance from East Coast
of the US (km)
0
120
200
400
490
620
680
720
2000
2500
2900
3000
3090
3100
3200
3500
3600
4025
4050
4100
4125
4500
5000
5300
5800
6000
6075
6100
Depth (km)
0
0.2
2.7
3.7
3.7
4.6
1.8
4.6
4.6
4.0
2.7
1.8
4.0
2.4
2.9
3.5
3.7
4.0
3.8
3.9
4.3
4.6
5.0
4.4
3.7
2.7
0.2
0
Polarity of Ocean Floor Bedrock
Distance from East Coast (km)
Pole
245 r
405 n
529 r
719 n
949 r
1029 n
1189 r
1279 n
1589 r
1719 n
1884 r
2029 n
2275 r
2365 n
2485 r
2660 n
2775 r
2995 n
3050 n
3105 r
3325 n
3440 r
3615 n
3735 r
3825 n
4071 r
4216 n
4381 r
4511 n
4821 r
4911 n
5071 r
5151 n
5381 r
5571 n
5695 r
5855 n
6100 r