Sea Floor Magnetism Theory

Paleomagnetism or palaeomagnetism in the united kingdom is the study of the record of the.

Sea floor magnetism theory.

Check all that apply. This evidence was from the investigations of the molten material seafloor drilling radiometric age dating and fossil ages and the magnetic stripes. The models show a ridge a about 5 million years ago b about 2 to 3 million years ago and c in the present. Seafloor spreading theory that oceanic crust forms along submarine mountain zones known collectively as the mid ocean ridge system and spreads out laterally away from them.

As oceanic crust forms and spreads moving away from the ridge crest it pushes the continent away from the ridge axis. The pattern of magnetic strips shows that the seafloor is expanding at mid ocean ridges. Definition theory facts. Was proven as patterns of magnetic field polarity preserved in seafloor basalt and by age dating of the rocks.

Scientists discovered that new molten materials from inside earth create new crust. With reversed polarity the north and south poles are in the opposite position during wwii magnetometers attached to ships to search. The magnetic stripes continue across the seafloor. What evidence supports hess s theory of seafloor spreading.

The regions that hold the unique record of earth s magnetic field lie along the mid ocean ridges where the sea floor is spreading. Strong evidence of seafloor spreading and plate tectonics. Magnetic stripes are the result of reversals of the earth s field and seafloor spreading. New oceanic crust is magnetized as it forms and then it moves away from the ridge in both directions.

This idea played a pivotal role in the development of the theory of plate tectonics which revolutionized geologic thought during the last quarter of the 20th century. Evidence of sea floor spreading. During normal polarity the north and south poles are aligned as they are now. Harry hess s hypothesis about seafloor spreading had collected several pieces of evidence to support the theory.

Sometimes for reasons unknown the magnetic poles switch positions. It states that the earth s oceanic crust acts as a recorder of reversals in the geomagnetic. If the oceanic crust reaches a deep sea trench it sinks into the trench and is lost into the mantle. North becomes south and south becomes north.

The magnetism of mid ocean ridges helped scientists first identify the process of seafloor spreading in the early 20th century.