POLISH RESEARCH TEAM

MAGNETIC REVERSALS NEAR MID-OCEAN RIDGES

Your team is led by Dr. Polarski of the University of Warsaw.

Your team dragged a magnetometer back and forth across the Atlantic mid-ocean ridge.  The magnetometer measured the way that magnetic minerals in rocks on the ocean floor are lined up.

Your team discovered that a pattern of reversals of the direction of the minerals exists. On either side of the rift, the minerals show reversals in Earth's magnetic field.  The pattern is a mirror image on either side of the rift.

What can you conclude from your data?

Go to the following websites and read the information that is there.

Testing the Sea-Floor Spreading Hypothesis

Magnetic bands provide evidence of sea-floor spreading

What do the patterns of magnetic reversals tell us about the ocean floor in the middle of the Atlantic?