What causes the magnetic zebra stripes on the ocean floor?

Magnetic ‘zebra stripes’ When seafloor lava solidifies at the seafloor, its magnetic crystals are quenched in alignment with Earth’s magnetic field, and the rocks’ magnetic “polarity” is preserved.

How are magnetic stripes created in sea floor basalts?

Most basalt magmas contain abundant molten iron. As magma starts to harden into rock, iron-rich minerals solidify first. Their crystals are pulled into alignment by the Earth’s magnetic field, just like a compass needle is pulled towards magnetic north.

What causes the strange stripes on the seafloor?

There are stripes with different magnetism. Scientists found that magnetic polarity in the seafloor was normal at mid-ocean ridges but reversed in symmetrical patterns away from the ridge center. This normal and reversed pattern continues across the seafloor. Magnetometers are still towed behind research ships.

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 does magnetic stripe pattern mean?

What does magnetic stripes pattern represent? This represents periodic reversals in the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field.

What evidence was found by geophysicists about magnetic patterns found on the ocean floor?

Oceanographic exploration in the 1950s led to a much better understanding of the ocean floor. 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.

How do strips of magnetized rock on the ocean floor provide evidence of sea floor spreading?

How do strips of magnetized rock on the ocean floor provide evidence of sea-floor spreading? Strips of ocean-floor basalt record the polarity of Earth’s magnetic field at the time the rock formed. The pattern shows that ocean floor forms along mid-ocean ridges and then moves away from the ridge.

How do magnetic stripes of iron in ocean rock?

How do magnetic stripes of iron in ocean rock provide evidence of seafloor spreading? They show how the density of the seafloor has changed. They reveal a matching pattern on either side of the ridge. They reveal differences in the mineral composition of newly created rock.

How were magnetic stripes formed?

When lava gets erupted at the mid-ocean ridge axis it cools and turns into hard rock. As it cools it becomes permanently magnetized in the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field. This creates a symmetrical pattern of magnetic stripes of opposite polarity on either side of mid-ocean ridges.

What causes magnetic stripes on the seafloor quizlet?

Why does the rock of the ocean floor have a pattern of magnetic stripes? The rock of the ocean floor contains iron. As molten material cooled and hardenend, the iron bits inside lined up in the direction of Earth’s magnetic poles, creating a pattern of magnetized stripes.

How is new ocean floor formed?

Seafloor spreading helps explain continental drift in the theory of plate tectonics. When oceanic plates diverge, tensional stress causes fractures to occur in the lithosphere. At a spreading center, basaltic magma rises up the fractures and cools on the ocean floor to form new seabed.

Why do magnetic stripes on the ocean floor form a symmetrical pattern on either side of mid-ocean ridges?

Are there magnetic stripes on the ocean floor?

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. Obviously, the ocean floor had a story to tell, but what?

What causes the magnetic striping on the Earth?

In 1963, they hypothesized that the magnetic striping was produced by repeated reversals of the Earth’s magnetic field, not as earlier thought, by changes in intensity of the magnetic field or by other causes.

How are magnetic stripes used to date rocks?

However, it was the potassium-argon dating method that unlocked the riddle of the magnetic striping on the ocean floor and provided convincing evidence for the seafloor spreading hypothesis. Cox and his colleagues used this method to date continental volcanic rocks from around the world.

What was the discovery of zebra stripes in the ocean?

Oceanographic exploration in the 1950s led to a much better understanding of the ocean floor. 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.