What happens to the age of rocks as you move farther from the center of a ridge?

As you move farther from the center of a ridge, the age of the rocks increases. This phenomenon is primarily related to the process of seafloor spreading that occurs at mid-ocean ridges.

At a mid-ocean ridge, tectonic plates are diverging, and new crust is formed by volcanic activity as magma rises to the surface. As this process occurs, younger rocks are created at the center of the ridge. Over time, as new material continues to be pushed outwards, the older rocks are displaced further away from the ridge. Therefore, the farther you get from the ridge center, the older the rocks become because they have had more time to evolve since their formation.

This pattern can be observed in geological studies of oceanic crust, where radiometric dating confirms that the rocks closest to the ridge are the youngest, while those farther away are significantly older. This is a key principle in understanding plate tectonics and the dynamic nature of Earth’s surface.