Magnetic Stripes In The Ocean Floor

Alternating stripes of magnetically different rock were laid out in rows on either side of the mid ocean ridge.

Magnetic stripes in the ocean floor.

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. Among the new findings was the discovery of zebra stripe like magnetic patterns for the rocks of the ocean floor. This evidence led scientists to look again at wegener s hypothesis of continental drift. The figure below includes two images of the ocean floor.

Magnetic striping magnetic minerals are found in rocks. Select the two correct answers. Evidence for sea floor spreading. Eruptions of molten material magnetic stripes in the rock of the ocean floor and the ages of the rocks themselves.

Several types of evidence supported hess s theory of sea floor spreading. When the earth s magnetic field reverses a new stripe with the new polarity begins. Magnetic evidence for seafloor spreading explains how magnetic polarity frozen into seafloor basalts reveals evidence for the creation of new seafloor at mid ocean ridges. Identify the factors that cause magnetic stripes to form along the ocean floor.

Evidence from molten material. By using the magnetometer the magnetic polarity will be shown through a timescale that contains the normal and a reverse polarity. Over time the earth s magnetic field reverses its north. Magma acquires the magnetic direction present on earth when it hardens into rock 3.

In the 20th century the magnetic survey was conducted in the mid ocean ridge in order to investigate evidence of sea floor spreading. Magnetic direction of rock changes as earth s magnetic poles drift. Magnetic stripes on the ocean floor are hallmarks of seafloor spreading but have now been found on the ground in ethiopia where crust is pulling apart. When these magnetic patterns were mapped over a wide region the ocean floor showed a zebra like pattern.

Plate tectonics and reversals of the earth s magnetic field are responsible for the magnetic stripes found on the ocean floor. One stripe with normal polarity and the adjoining stripe with reversed polarity. These two things were the magnetic striping on the ocean floor and the age of seafloor rocks. Magnetic striping of the sea floor after mid ocean ridges and trenches were discovered more evidence was discovered that helped to support the theory that the continents had moved around.

These patterns were unlike any seen for continental rocks.