In the ocean floor the magnetization was orderly arranged in long strips.
Magnetic strips ocean floor.
Evidence from molten material.
Magnetic striping magnetic minerals are found in rocks.
The concept of seafloor spreading was supported by magnetic polarity stripes on the 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.
The figure below includes two images of the ocean floor.
These two things were the magnetic striping on the ocean floor and the age of seafloor rocks.
Evidence for sea floor spreading.
New oceanic lithosphere is generated at mid ocean ridges.
Several types of evidence supported hess s theory of sea floor spreading.
Among the new findings was the discovery of zebra stripe like magnetic patterns for the rocks of the ocean floor.
When the earth s magnetic field reverses a new stripe with the new polarity begins.
This finding though unexpected.
This evidence led scientists to look again at wegener s hypothesis of continental drift.
Plate tectonic processes can affect climate.
The hawaiian islands are a volcanic arc atop an oceanic subduction zone.
Plate tectonics and reversals of the earth s magnetic field are responsible for the magnetic stripes found on the ocean floor.
These patterns were unlike any seen for continental rocks.
Magnetic stripes and isotopic clocks oceanographic exploration in the 1950s led to a much better understanding of the ocean floor.
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.
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.
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.
