nytimes

A Rare Glimpse Into the Earth’s Engine: Documenting Seafloor Spreading in Real Time

The recent spike in search interest for the *New York Times* aligns with the publication of a groundbreaking study in *Nature* that details the first-ever direct, instrument-verified observation of a rapid seafloor spreading event. By sheer coincidence, researchers had deployed a monitoring network just two months before a 2024 earthquake swarm in the Indian Ocean, allowing them to record the creation of over three feet of new oceanic crust.