Magnetic Stripes On The Sea Floor

Magnetometers towed near the sea surface behind wordmark oneline.

Magnetic stripes on the sea floor.

Why are the magnetic stripes on the sea floor parallel to and symmetrical across the mid ocean ridge. The continual process of seafloor spreading separated the stripes in an orderly. 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. Plates have areas of activity called boundaries and these.

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

The image shows the mid atlantic ridge a submarine volcanic mountain belt that is a key location in the process of. The theory of seafloor spreading. 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.

As it cools it becomes permanently magnetized in the direction of the earth s magnetic field. 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 discovery of magnetic stripes on the seafloor in the 1950s validated the plate tectonics theory for the geological community. 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.

Interpreting diagrams how are these matching stripes evidence of sea floor spreading.