Explain the hypothesis, known as the ''sea floor spreading'' given by Hess.

Explanation

Hess argued that constant eruptions at the crest of oceanic ridges cause the rupture of the oceanic crust forces and the new lava wedges into it, pushing the oceanic crust on either side. The ocean floor, thus spreads. Two facts made Hess think about the consumption of the oceanic crust.
(i) The younger age of the oceanic crust
(ii) The spreading of one ocean does not cause the shrinking of the other.
He further maintained that the ocean floor that gets pushed due to volcanic eruptions at the crest, sinks down at the oceanic trenches and gets consumed. The basic concept of sea floor spreading has been depicted in the given figure: