the history of plate techtonics
The History of plate tectonics
Before the plate tectonics revolution of the 1960’s geographers had a very basic understanding of global geological phenomena’s. while there had been many theory’s put fort that were used to try and explain these phenomena’s none had been completely successful till finally In the 1960’s The theory of plate tectonics was put forth. It was truly a unifying concept as it helps us to explain and finally understand many different aspects of geography such as the geography of rock types, volcanism, seismicity and so on. It unified all concepts and contributed to a major leap in science, just like in case of Darwinian evolution.
Alfred Wegener was the first scientist to publicly put forth the theory of continental drift. In 1915 Wegener realised his first book based on his new theory. He claimed that during the carboniferous period all of the earth’s land masses were attached to each other in a super continent name pangia, over time they slowly broke up and drifted apart creating the continents as we know them today. He put forth a wide range of evidence to back his claims. He showed that he was able to piece together continents like pieces of a jigsaw, he also showed that rare identical fossils were found in rocks on continents separated by thousands of miles of ocean and that mountains of similar age, rock types and tectonic history like the highlands of Scotland could all be fitted toghter within a reconstructed supercontinent. However there were still problems with his theory that geologists were quick to point out for one, Wegner had claimed “There contains a continental force that moves these continental blocks” but at this time there was no know mechanism capicule of driving continental drift this along with many other criticisms lead many to condemn his theory as impossible and was seldom ever taken seriously. However Wegners theory did not die out. It was carried on in the nineteen thirty’s and fifty’s by famous geologists like
Before the plate tectonics revolution of the 1960’s geographers had a very basic understanding of global geological phenomena’s. while there had been many theory’s put fort that were used to try and explain these phenomena’s none had been completely successful till finally In the 1960’s The theory of plate tectonics was put forth. It was truly a unifying concept as it helps us to explain and finally understand many different aspects of geography such as the geography of rock types, volcanism, seismicity and so on. It unified all concepts and contributed to a major leap in science, just like in case of Darwinian evolution.
Alfred Wegener was the first scientist to publicly put forth the theory of continental drift. In 1915 Wegener realised his first book based on his new theory. He claimed that during the carboniferous period all of the earth’s land masses were attached to each other in a super continent name pangia, over time they slowly broke up and drifted apart creating the continents as we know them today. He put forth a wide range of evidence to back his claims. He showed that he was able to piece together continents like pieces of a jigsaw, he also showed that rare identical fossils were found in rocks on continents separated by thousands of miles of ocean and that mountains of similar age, rock types and tectonic history like the highlands of Scotland could all be fitted toghter within a reconstructed supercontinent. However there were still problems with his theory that geologists were quick to point out for one, Wegner had claimed “There contains a continental force that moves these continental blocks” but at this time there was no know mechanism capicule of driving continental drift this along with many other criticisms lead many to condemn his theory as impossible and was seldom ever taken seriously. However Wegners theory did not die out. It was carried on in the nineteen thirty’s and fifty’s by famous geologists like