Earth's Magnetic Field Is Poised to Flip Upside-Down

[Martin Eden]

16. Regular flipping of magenetic poles was a key to proving plate tectonics

The theory of "continental drift" was advocated by Alfred Wegener in the 1920's, but he was scoffed at by most of the scientific community because he provided no mechanism for the movement of continents. After WWII with the advent of technology for mapping the ocean floor, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge was discovered. As magma surged from the ridge it produced new sea floor, widening the Atlantic and moving the Americas and Europe/Africa further apart.

When new sea floor is produced, the rock is magnetized according to the direction of the earth's magnetic poles. When the poles flipped this was recorded in the rock, and when examined it showed stripes like an irregular barcode moving away from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge where new sea floor was being produced. This not only clearly demonstrated the sea floor was moving, it also provided the rate of expansion because of the timeline for polar shifts known by geologists.