Magnetic Stripes On The Sea Floor

The earth s magnetic field reverses in a regular pattern every few hundred thousand years.

Magnetic stripes on the sea floor. Figure 17 magnetic stripes magnetic stripes in the rock of the ocean floor show the direction of earth s magnetic field at the time the rock hardened. The theory of plate tectonics states that the lithosphere which is the earth s outer layer is divided up into a dozens of irregularly shaped plates. The continual process of seafloor spreading separated the stripes in an orderly. Seafloor spreading is a geologic process where there is a gradual addition of new oceanic crust in the ocean floor through a volcanic activity while moving the older rocks away from the mid oceanic ridge.

As it cools it becomes permanently magnetized in the direction of the earth s magnetic field. Why are the magnetic stripes on the sea floor parallel to and symmetrical across the mid ocean ridge. Among the new findings was the discovery of zebra stripe like magnetic patterns for the rocks of the ocean floor. Magnetometers towed near the sea surface behind wordmark oneline.

What they discovered was that the magnetism of the ocean floor around mid ocean ridges was divided into matching stripes on either side of the ridge. Basalt the once molten rock that makes up most new oceanic crust is a fairly magnetic substance. Plates have areas of activity called boundaries and these. The discovery of magnetic stripes on the seafloor in the 1950s validated the plate tectonics theory for the geological community.

Interpreting diagrams how are these matching stripes evidence of sea floor spreading. False the concept of seafloor spreading was supported by magnetic polarity stripes on the ocean floor. Age of the seafloor rocks when scientists measured the age of seafloor rocks they found that younger rocks are found closer to the mid ocean ridges and older rocks are found closer to trenches these 2 pieces of evidence support the idea that the sea floor is spreading and that our theory of plate tectonics is valid by showing that the sea floor is not all the same age and is constantly. Magnetic stripes and isotopic clocks oceanographic exploration in the 1950s led to a much better understanding of the ocean floor.

Evidence from drilling samples.