Magnetic Patterns On The Ocean Floor Were Puzzling Because They

Magnetic patterns on the ocean floor were puzzling because they showed altering bands on of normal and reversed polarity wegeners hypothesis of continental drift was finally confirmed by.

Magnetic patterns on the ocean floor were puzzling because they.

Why did scientists expect the ocean floor to have a thick layer of sediment. The study paleomagnetism was key in proving wegener s hypothesis because. Magnetic patterns are symmetrical on each side of the mid ocean ridge which would indicate that the seafloor is spreading apart like the tectonic plate theory claims. The earths magnetic polarity at the time of rock formation.

Mapping of variation over an area is valuable in detecting structures obscured by overlying material. Studying the magnetic patterns of the rocks in the floor of the ocean helps scientists do what. The seafloor was mapped by shipborne magnetometers in the 1950s and produced puzzling results sequential zones of normal and reverse magnetic polarity spreading out from the oceanic ridges. Evidence that was discovered nearly 2 decades after his death.

Why were magnetic patterns found on the ocean floor puzzling. In geophysics a magnetic anomaly is a local variation in the earth s magnetic field resulting from variations in the chemistry or magnetism of the rocks. The ocean floor is thus pushed at right angles and in opposite directions away from the crests. At spreading centres this crust is separated into parallel bands of rock by successive waves of emergent magma.

By the late 1960s several american investigators among them jack e. Later theories showed that this was due to the reversing nature of earth s magnetic field. When earth s geomagnetic field undergoes a reversal the change in polarity is recorded in the magma which contributes to the alternating pattern of magnetic striping on the seafloor. The magnetic patterns were a mirror image of each side of the ridge.

Showed alternating bands of normal and reversed polarity wegener s hypothesis of continental drift was finally confirmed by. Tracks of continents plowing through the ocean floor rock. It provided evidence of sea floor spreading. Oliver and bryan l.

Isacks had integrated this notion of seafloor spreading with that of drifting continents and formulated the basis of plate tectonic theory. The magnetic variation in successive bands of ocean floor parallel with mid ocean ridges is important evidence supporting the theory of.