Sea Floor Spreading.

[Guest Abyss]

All right, I have a project due this coming up Monday on Sea floor spreading, and the relation with the plate tectonics.

 

Well, I have the basic concept that the lava flow on the sea floor causes the sea floor to spread and all that type of stuff.

 

The part I don't understand is explaining how they proved this. It has something to do with the North Pole, and South Pole magnetic field switching every so many years. And due to iron in the lava, the patterns are different when the magnetic field changed.

 

Something like that, I just don't quite understand it.

 

Also, I don't know how I can explain this with 5 specific aspects for it happening, and all that.

 

 

So, anyone willing to help this newbie in need?

[swansont]

You can show the continents are moving trivially these days with some GPS monitoring.

 

The part about the lava is that when it cools, any ferromagnetic material in it, like iron, will align itself with the earth's field. Some layers of the lava have the field oriented opposite to others. The dates of the field reversals are known to some accuracy via radiometric dating, so the positions of the layers show the sea floor spreading.

 

for more, click here

 

Wegener is the guy who though up plate tectonics, so doing a Google search on 'Wegener plate tectonics evidence' should get lots of info. I can't vouch for the quality of that info, though.