What does the pattern of magnetic stripes on the seafloor indicate?
A polarity reversal means that the magnetic North flips to where we know the South Pole is. 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 magnetic striping evidence of?
They found a very consistent “striping” of normal and reversed magnetic polarity in the sea floor rocks. These stripes occurred in parallel bands radiating out from a long north-south-running undersea ridge.
What kind of magnetism do rocks right at mid ocean ridges have?
When lava is extruded at any mid-ocean ridge, the rock it forms becomes magnetized and acquires the magnetic polarity that exists at the time the lava cools. As the crust moves away from mid-ocean ridges, it contains a continuous record of the Earth’s changing magnetic polarity.
Where are the major mid ocean ridges located?
South Pacific Ocean
What can you say about the ages of the oceanic rocks far the Mid Atlantic Ridge?
Answer. Answer: The age, density, and thickness of oceanic crust increases with distance from the mid-ocean ridge. The magnetism of mid-ocean ridges helped scientists first identify the process of seafloor spreading in the early 20th century. …
What can you say about the eyes of the oceanic rocks near the Mid Atlantic Ridge?
Answer: The newest, thinnest crust on Earth is located near the center of mid-ocean ridge—the actual site of seafloor spreading. The age, density, and thickness of oceanic crust increases with distance from the mid-ocean ridge. Eventually, older oceanic crust encounters a tectonic boundary with continental crust.
What is in the center of a mid-ocean ridge?
The material that erupts at spreading centers along the mid-ocean ridge is primarily basalt, the most common rock on Earth. Because this spreading occurs on a sphere, the rate separation along the mid-ocean ridge varies around the globe.