Frederick J. Vine

British geophysicist

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July 14, 2026

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Frederick J. Vine was a British geophysicist who, along with Drummond H. Matthews, proposed a significant hypothesis in 1963 regarding marine magnetic anomalies. This hypothesis suggested that new oceanic crust, formed at mid-ocean ridges, records the Earth's magnetic field at the time of its formation.12

The theory posits that as magma wells up and cools at these spreading centers, it becomes magnetized. If the Earth's magnetic field is in a normal polarity, the crust shows a positive magnetic anomaly, and if it's in a reversed polarity, it shows a negative anomaly. These magnetized blocks, as they move away from the ridge, create a symmetrical pattern of magnetic bands on either side of the ridge axis, resembling a zebra's stripes. This groundbreaking idea played a crucial role in the development of the theory of plate tectonics.134

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plate tectonics
Reversal of Earth’s magnetic field
…Cambridge and a research student, Frederick J. Vine, postulated in 1963 that the new crust would have a magnetization aligned with the field at the time of its formation. If the magnetic field was normal, as it is today, the magnetization of the crust would be added to that of…
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…Cambridge and a research student, Frederick J. Vine, postulated in 1963 that the new crust would have a magnetization aligned with the field at the time of its formation. If the magnetic field was normal, as it is today, the magnetization of the crust would be added to that of…
Read More

oceanic crust
Marine magnetic anomalies
It remained for English geologists Frederick J. Vine and Drummond H. Matthews and Canadian geophysicist Lawrence W. Morley to put these observations together in a theory that explained marine magnetic anomalies. The theory rests on three assumptions: (1) that Earth’s magnetic field periodically reverses polarity, (2) that seafloor spreading occurs,…
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It remained for English geologists Frederick J. Vine and Drummond H. Matthews and Canadian geophysicist Lawrence W. Morley to put these observations together in a theory that explained marine magnetic anomalies. The theory rests on three assumptions: (1) that Earth’s magnetic field periodically reverses polarity, (2) that seafloor spreading occurs,…
Read More