Magnetic Strips Ocean Floor

The concept of seafloor spreading was supported by magnetic polarity stripes on the ocean floor.

Magnetic strips ocean floor.

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. Magnetic striping magnetic minerals are found in rocks. 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. This evidence led scientists to look again at wegener s hypothesis of continental drift.

In the ocean floor the magnetization was orderly arranged in long strips. The strips on the atlantic ocean floor in particular all seemed parallel to the mid atlantic ridge that is a volcanic ridge running roughly north to south with some zigs and zags halfway between europe africa and america. Evidence from molten material. These patterns were unlike any seen for continental rocks.

Plate tectonics and reversals of the earth s magnetic field are responsible for the magnetic stripes found on the ocean floor. When the earth s magnetic field reverses a new stripe with the new polarity begins. Magnetic striping and polar reversals beginning in the 1950s scientists using magnetic instruments magnetometers adapted from airborne devices developed during world war ii to detect submarines began recognizing odd magnetic variations across the ocean floor. 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.

These two things were the magnetic striping on the ocean floor and the age of seafloor rocks. The hawaiian islands are a volcanic arc atop an oceanic subduction zone. 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.

The figure below includes two images of the ocean floor. This finding though unexpected. 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. Among the new findings was the discovery of zebra stripe like magnetic patterns for the rocks of the ocean floor.

Magnetic stripes and isotopic clocks oceanographic exploration in the 1950s led to a much better understanding of the ocean floor.