Why are magnetic patterns important for plate tectonics?
How is magnetic striping evidence of plate tectonics? When the Earth’s magnetic field reverses, a new stripe, with the new polarity, begins. 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.
What is the pattern of magnetic polarity?
A magnetic polarity reversal is a change of the earth’s magnetic field to the opposite polarity. Rocks created along the oceanic spreading ridges commonly preserve this pattern of polarity reversals as they cool, and this pattern can be used to determine the rate of ocean ridge spreading.
Why are magnetic patterns important evidence?
Magnetic patterns are important evidence for plate tectonics because we can use the magnetic signatures of rock to identify the movement of large…
How are magnetic patterns in seafloor rock evidence?
When lava gets erupted at the mid-ocean ridge axis it cools and turns into hard rock. This creates a symmetrical pattern of magnetic stripes of opposite polarity on either side of mid-ocean ridges. These patterns of stripes provide the history of seafloor spreading.
What is the significance of magnetic pattern on the seafloor?
When the Earth’s magnetic field reverses, a new stripe, with the new polarity, begins. 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. The figure below includes two images of the ocean floor.
Why were magnetic patterns found on the ocean floor?
Q. Why were magnetic patterns found on the ocean floor puzzling? They showed alternating bands of normal and reversed polarity. No rocks were magnetic.
What is magnetic orientation in plate tectonics?
One of the key pieces of evidence supporting plate tectonic theory was the discovery that rocks on the seafloor record ancient reversals of the Earth’s magnetic field: as rocks are formed where plates are moving away from one another, they record the current direction of the Earth’s magnetic field, which flip-flops …
Is the magnetic stripe pattern?
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. This creates a symmetrical pattern of magnetic stripes of opposite polarity on either side of mid-ocean ridges.
What do the magnetic stripes pattern represents?
What does magnetic stripes pattern represent? This represents periodic reversals in the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field.
Why were magnetic patterns found on the ocean floor puzzling?
Why were magnetic patterns found on the ocean floor puzzling? No rocks were magnetic. They did not show alternating bands of normal and reversed polarity.
What does the magnetic stripes patterns represent?
These patterns of stripes provide the history of seafloor spreading. Geophysicists can read these patterns from the magnetic anomalies they measure with a magnetometer. Where the magnetic wiggles, or anomalies, are broader, the spreading rate has been faster.
