The Rocks On The Ocean Floor Are Magnetic In Stripes

Different types of evidence supported hess s theory of sea floor spreading.

The rocks on the ocean floor are magnetic in stripes.

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 made scientists take a second look at wegener s hypothesis of continental drift. When the earth s magnetic field reverses a new stripe with the new polarity begins.

The figure below includes two images of 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. Magnetic stripes and isotopic clocks oceanographic exploration in the 1950s led to a much better understanding of the ocean floor. The rock began as molten material that cooled and hardened.

As rocks crystallize from lava at the ridges they literally record the magnetic field of the earth at the time. As the african crust stretched thin streams of magma intruded the continental crust and hardened. Eruptions of molten material magnetic stripes in the rock of the ocean floor and the ages of the rocks themselves. These magnetic patterns are parallel to the mid ocean ridges and symmetrical on both sides.

These patterns were unlike any seen for continental rocks. The rock of the ocean floor contains iron. Identify the factors that cause magnetic stripes to form along the ocean floor. Select the two correct answers.

When scientists studied the magnetic properties of the seafloor they discovered normal and reversed magnetic stripes with different widths. The investigation of the mid ocean ridge using the magnetic stripes resulted in the three discoveries. The minerals contained in the rocks are oriented opposite to the magnetic field. Plates move as new rock forms which causes magnetic direction to skew away.

Among the new findings was the discovery of zebra stripe like magnetic patterns for the rocks of the ocean floor. Scientists discovered that the rock that makes up the ocean floor lies in a pattern of magnetized stripes these stripes hold a record of reversals in earth s magnetic field. Plate tectonics and reversals of the earth s magnetic field are responsible for the magnetic stripes found on the ocean floor. The patterns of the magnetic field will then be compared to the rocks to determine its approximate ages.

And unlike magnetic stripes on the ocean floor tendaho s formed through diking. 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.