Answer:
A spreading center is the place on the ocean floor where new oceanic crust forms. This process occurs through the separation of tectonic plates, which allows lava to erupt through cracks in the existing crust and create new oceanic crust in the form of solid basalt.
At a spreading center, crustal material is neither created nor destroyed. Instead, old oceanic crust is destroyed or recycled at subduction zones, where tectonic plates collide and one of them is pushed under the other. The process of subduction causes organic matter and minerals in the old oceanic crust to melt and return to the Earth's mantle.
As old oceanic crust is destroyed, new oceanic crust is simultaneously formed at a spreading center. Thus, the process of oceanic crust spreading is a continuous process, where old crust is recycled and replaced by new crust.
Step-by-step explanation: