Continental drift was an idea raised in early 17th century by Sir Francis Bacon, as he wrote of the apparent shoreline fit of opposite sides of the Atlantic which was much like pieces of a puzzle (Figure 1). The fit was computed by Sir Edward Bullard in 1960s later (Figure 2). Later in 1912, Alfred Wegener, a German geophysicist who was the first to propose the continental drift theory with a mechanism, suggested that all the lands were once joined together as a supercontinent – Pangaea, which was surrounded by the ocean – Panthalassa, the ancestor of modern Pacific Ocean. Wegener’s proposed mechanism of continental drift uses the idea of centrifugal force resulted from spinning Earth and inertia of landmass, coupled with the tidal drag on
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His idea was even transformed when scientists investigated the sea floor and surprisingly found out that the sea floor were spreading. Plate tectonics theory was born by integrating ideas of continental drift and sea floor spreading, which was established by robust investigation especially with the uses of advanced technologies and techniques, the by-products of World War II (WWII) that enable scientists to investigate sea floor in a more direct, in-depth, and interpretative ways. These proofs for continental drift will be covered in the next few sections and mostly summarized from the book Essentials of Oceanography written by Garrison …show more content…
Radiometric dating of rocks is a technique that can predict the age of rocks. When geologists used it to compare the age of ocean floor and its overlaying sediments with those at the centers of continents, to their surprise, they found that ocean floor appeared to be much younger than the continents. This in turn generated interest and curiosity to the deep-ocean floor. Echo sounder was used to reveal complex profiles of the deep-ocean floors. The finding included ocean floor sediment to be thickest at the edge of the Atlantic and thinnest close to mid-ocean ridge. At the same time, mantle studies also reported seismic wave information which verified the existence of a layer in the upper mantle, information of which strongly suggested it to be a deformable
His idea was even transformed when scientists investigated the sea floor and surprisingly found out that the sea floor were spreading. Plate tectonics theory was born by integrating ideas of continental drift and sea floor spreading, which was established by robust investigation especially with the uses of advanced technologies and techniques, the by-products of World War II (WWII) that enable scientists to investigate sea floor in a more direct, in-depth, and interpretative ways. These proofs for continental drift will be covered in the next few sections and mostly summarized from the book Essentials of Oceanography written by Garrison …show more content…
Radiometric dating of rocks is a technique that can predict the age of rocks. When geologists used it to compare the age of ocean floor and its overlaying sediments with those at the centers of continents, to their surprise, they found that ocean floor appeared to be much younger than the continents. This in turn generated interest and curiosity to the deep-ocean floor. Echo sounder was used to reveal complex profiles of the deep-ocean floors. The finding included ocean floor sediment to be thickest at the edge of the Atlantic and thinnest close to mid-ocean ridge. At the same time, mantle studies also reported seismic wave information which verified the existence of a layer in the upper mantle, information of which strongly suggested it to be a deformable