How do magnetic stripes on the seafloor support seafloor spreading?

Magnetic stripes on the seafloor provide critical evidence for seafloor spreading by acting as a chronological record of Earth’s magnetic field reversals.12

The theory, developed by Frederick J. Vine, Drummond H. Matthews, and Lawrence W. Morley, relies on three key principles:
* Earth’s magnetic field periodically reverses polarity.13
* New oceanic crust is continuously created at spreading centres along oceanic ridges.14
* As magma cools below its Curie point, iron-titanium minerals lock in the magnetic orientation of the field at that specific time, creating permanent thermoremanent magnetization.1

As new crust forms, it splits and moves away from the ridge axis, carrying its magnetic signature with it. This process creates a symmetrical, mirror-image pattern of "normal" and "reversed" magnetic stripes on both sides of the ridge. By matching these patterns to known geomagnetic reversal timescales, scientists can date the seafloor and calculate the rate at which tectonic plates move apart.124