On the magnetic field of the oceans

Abstract

The authors of the idea of linking strip magnetic anomalies with the formation of their sources under the influence of the Earth’s alternating magnetic field thought it possible to study the movement of lithospheric plates with their help. Most of them quickly abandoned such intentions. Nevertheless, most geophysicists in the world believe this is possible. The material accumulated over the 60 years of the idea’s existence contradicts it. The article reviews the currently known facts from the standpoint of plate tectonics and from the point of view of alternative ideas about the formation of the oceans and their crust. The discussion focuses on the spatial distribution and intensity of band anomalies of the oceans’ magnetic field and on their sources being restricted to certain types of rocks and layers of sections of the Earth’s crust and upper mantle. According to the author, they cannot be explained in any way by the plate tectonics concept. This conclusion is consistent with the long-standing results of many geophysicists. Recognition of this fact is restrained only by the unwillingness to abandon ingrained stereotypes. A variant of the process of oceanization of the continental crust proposed by the author, most of all reminiscent of continental endogenous regimes, reminiscent of rifting, accommodates models for the formation of band anomalies without involving sources with reverse magnetization. In oceanic basins, such sources have not been found at all. They occur in limited areas, but their experimentally determined parameters do not allow for an explanation of the observed magnetic field.