The maps revealed a curious zebra-stripe pattern of magnetic polarity on the seafloor, something never seen in continental rocks. In this pattern, bands of rocks with normal polarity — the north ...

Around this time, scientists dragged magnetic sensors behind ships and uncovered remarkable patterns in the magnetic properties of seafloor rocks. These patterns reflected the timeline of magnetic ...

Magnetic bands provide evidence of sea-floor spreading 1963. In 1963, ... They realized that the pattern of reversals matched perfectly the magnetic profile they had compiled of the sea floor.

Victor Vacquier Sr., a Scripps Institution of Oceanography geophysicist who developed key instruments for mapping the Earth's magnetic fields and whose research provided a strong experimental ...

As new crust is produced in Earth’s mid-oceanic ridges and the seafloor spreads, they move in recognizable, stripe-like patterns. You can also spot magnetic anomalies—places with unusually ...

By studying seafloor sediment and lava flows, scientists can reconstruct the magnetic field patterns of the past. Iron in lava, for example, points in the direction of the then-existing field and is ...

Magnetic anomalies and the pattern of seismicity suggest that the present Chile Rise has been spreading at 2.7 cm/yr along a NNE axis. Older oceanic crust (25–55 m.y. BP) near the coast of Chile ...

This shows a repeating pattern, plus offsets at intervals, that echoes the magnetic patterns seen along Earth’s mid-ocean ridges, where the sea floor is spreading. The magnetic pattern imprints ...