Magnetic Stripes On Sea Floor

You read earlier that earth behaves like a giant magnet with a north pole and a south pole.

Magnetic stripes on sea floor.

These two things were the magnetic striping on the ocean floor and the age of seafloor rocks. When scientists studied patterns in the rocks of the ocean floor they found more support for sea floor spreading. Evidence from magnetic stripes. By using the magnetometer the magnetic polarity will be shown through a timescale that contains the normal and a reverse polarity.

Magnetic stripes and isotopic clocks oceanographic exploration in the 1950s led to a much better understanding of the ocean floor. 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. Surprisingly earth s magnetic poles have reversed themselves many times during earth s history. Among the new findings was the discovery of zebra stripe like magnetic patterns for the rocks of the ocean floor.

Basalt the once molten rock that makes up most new oceanic crust is a fairly magnetic substance and scientists began using magnetometers to measure the magnetism of the ocean floor in the 1950s. The discovery of magnetic stripes on the seafloor in the 1950s validated the plate tectonics theory for the geological community. Magnetic striping magnetic minerals are found in rocks. These patterns were unlike any seen for continental rocks.