Magnetic Stripes On The Ocean Floor Indicate What

Which location on this figure from the investigation is located on the abyssal plain.

Magnetic stripes on the ocean floor indicate what. Such magnetic patterns led to recognition of the occurrence of sea floor spreading and they remain some of the strongest evidence for the theory of plate tectonics. In the oceans magnetic stripes are symmetrical about a mid ocean ridge axis. Among the new findings was the discovery of zebra stripe like magnetic patterns for the rocks of the ocean floor. The rock of the ocean floor contains iron.

Magnetic patterns develop on the sea floor as basaltic lava erupts and cools and iron rich minerals align with earth s magnetic field. When the rocks are in melted form these minerals will line up with earth s magnetic field. The magnetic variation in successive bands of ocean floor parallel with mid ocean ridges is important evidence supporting the theory of seafloor spreading central to plate tectonics. Magnetic stripes scientists discovered that the rock that makes up the ocean floor lies in a pattern of magnetized stripes these stripes hold a record of reversals in earth s magnetic field.

The figure below includes two images of the ocean floor. Over time the earth s magnetic field reverses its north to south polarity and the magnetic minerals point in the opposite direction creating a striped pattern. At the mid ocean ridge spreading axis these flips in the direction of the earth s magnetic field are recorded in the magnetization of the lava. This similar to how iron filing line up when they are next to a magnet as seen in the pictures below.

When magma flows out of a mid ocean ridge small magnetic minerals in the magma align themselves to point in the direction of the earth s current magnetic north. Note that the stripes are symmetrical about the central dusky purple stripe. Magnetic stripes and isotopic clocks oceanographic exploration in the 1950s led to a much better understanding of the ocean floor. What could cause this.

These patterns were unlike any seen for continental rocks. Magnetic striping magnetic minerals are found in rocks. Plate tectonics and reversals of the earth s magnetic field are responsible for the magnetic stripes found on the ocean floor. This creates a symmetrical pattern of magnetic stripes of opposite polarity on either side of mid ocean ridges.

When the earth s magnetic field reverses a new stripe with the new polarity begins.