Magnetic Stripes On The Ocean Floor Indicate What

The figure below includes two images of the ocean floor.

Magnetic stripes on the ocean floor indicate what.

These two things were the magnetic striping on the ocean floor and the age of seafloor rocks. This pattern of stripes could represent what scientists see on the seafloor. 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. What could cause this.

Magnetic striping magnetic minerals are found in rocks. When the rocks are in melted form these minerals will line up with earth s magnetic field. 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. These patterns of stripes provide the history of seafloor spreading.

This similar to how iron filing line up when they are next to a magnet as seen in the pictures below. Over time the earth s magnetic field reverses its north to south polarity and the magnetic minerals point in the opposite direction creating a striped pattern. Magnetic patterns develop on the sea floor as basaltic lava erupts and cools and iron rich minerals align with earth s magnetic field. Among the new findings was the discovery of zebra stripe like magnetic patterns for the rocks of the ocean floor.

These patterns were unlike any seen for continental rocks. At the mid ocean ridge spreading axis these flips in the direction of the earth s magnetic field are recorded in the magnetization of the lava. Plate tectonics and reversals of the earth s magnetic field are responsible for the magnetic stripes found on the ocean floor. The rock of the ocean floor contains iron.

This creates a symmetrical pattern of magnetic stripes of opposite polarity on either side of mid ocean ridges. When the earth s magnetic field reverses a new stripe with the new polarity begins. In the oceans magnetic stripes are symmetrical about a mid ocean ridge axis. Magnetic stripes and isotopic clocks oceanographic exploration in the 1950s led to a much better understanding of the ocean floor.

Note that the stripes are symmetrical about the central dusky purple stripe.