Suggested Resources (0.00 / 0 votes) Rate this definition: WATS. What does WATS stand for?-- Explore the various meanings for the WATS acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.
Age of oceanic crust; youngest (red) is along spreading centers. Seafloor spreading is a process that occurs at mid-ocean ridges, where new oceanic crust is formed through volcanic activity and then gradually moves away from the ridge. Seafloor spreading helps explain continental drift in the theory of plate tectonics.t the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (and in other areas), material from the upper mantle rises through the faults between oceanic plates to form new crust as the plates move away from each other, a phenomenon first observed as continental drift.
How does all this relate to the motion of the plates on Earth's surface? The movement of heat by convection in the asthenosphere causes the rock of the mantle to slowly move in huge streams. The solid (but brittle) rock of the lithosphere is resting directly on top of the solid (but soft) rock of the asthenosphere.