Claim CD741:

Plate tectonics became widely accepted when bands of reversed magnetic orientation were found mirrored on either side of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. According to the theory, the sea floor spread gradually from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and periodic flips in the earth's magnetic field were preserved and recorded in the rocks as emerging magma cooled. But these bands of magnetism were misinterpreted; there are no magnetic reversals. Although magnetic intensities fluctuate, these are slight deviations around a high average. A compass needle would not change direction over these bands.

Source:

Brown, Walt, 1995. In the Beginning: Compelling evidence for creation and the Flood, 6th ed., p. 79. http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/HydroplateOverview3.html

Response:

  1. The magnetic field preserved in the rocks themselves does change direction. The magnetism measured in the 1950s was measured at the ocean surface, so the earth's present magnetic field was added to the magnetism from the rocks below (Bishop 1981).

  2. The main significance of the data was that the pattern was mirrored on either side of the midocean ridge. This is just the pattern one would expect from sea-floor spreading.

  3. There is a great deal more evidence for plate tectonics.

References:

  1. Bishop, A. C., 1981. The development of the concept of continental drift. In The Evolving Earth, ed. L. R. M. Cocks, London: British Museum, pp. 155-164.
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created 2004-2-13