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I believe it's more than just a theory (that it has happened), I was
taught that the evidence is contained 'frozen' in magnetic domains of
ancient lava flows. The problem being that it's only been in the past
couple decades people have begun to figure out why it happens.
In the meantime people like Hapgood & Cayce have come up with their own
ideas. One idea was that the entire Earth flipped, another was that the
plates did a little dance as they spread apart (!).
Geo Jim
****************************************Ah, the wonderful 'Pole Shift' theory.
Some said the poles were supposed to 'flip' at the turn of the century, bringing about a new cycle of life on earth. Edgar Cayce made such predictions.
For a 'slightly' less dubious source, you can check out Charles Hapgood publications. However, you will also have to endure his theories on the lost city of Atlantis.
A related topic is the 'precession' of the
earth - it's wobble on its axis that cataclism proponents use to explain how
they think the centrifugal force of this wobble
has caused the poles to flip (north becomes
south).
I couldn't find the animated example you are looking for. But there are a lot of sites that talk about the changing of the earth's magnetic field that have some good still images.