Did Alfred Wegener Discover Sea Floor Spreading

Alfred wegener and plate tectonics.

Did alfred wegener discover sea floor spreading.

Similar to wegener s theory that continents do in fact move hess seafloor spreading contradicted wegener s continental drift in that it involved the ocean sea floor moving as it expanded instead of continents ploughing through the sea. Alfred wegener s continental drift theory. It is important to know that the following specific fossil evidence was not brought up by wegener to support his theory. Wegener proposed that the continents themselves move which is untrue.

He pointed out that the continents are made of a different less dense rock granite than the volcanic basalt that makes up the deep sea floor in which wegener proposed that the continents floated somewhat like icebergs in water. His theory was rejected by most geologists during his lifetime but was resurrected and made a central feature of modern geology as part of the theory of plate tectonics in the 1960s. Alfred wegener collected diverse pieces of evidence to support his theory including geological fit and fossil evidence. He spent a great deal of time in greenland as part of several exploration and research expeditions.

Wegener also noted that the continents move up and down to maintain equilibrium in a process called isostasy. The missing mechanism seafloor spreading. And a similar fit appears across the pacific. Alfred wegener german meteorologist and geophysicist who formulated the first complete statement of the continental drift hypothesis.

Close examination of a globe often results in the observation that most of the continents seem to fit together like a puzzle. Alfred wegener was born in berlin germany on november 1 1880. The reaction to alfred wegener s theory tells us much about the workings of science. In 1912 alfred wegener proposed a theory that the continents had once been joined and over time had drifted apart.

Alfred lothar wegener ˈ v eɪ ɡ ən ər. This was the continental drift theory. His book the origin of continents and oceans was originally published in germany in 1929 and was instrumental in the development of the theory of seafloor spreading. During his lifetime he was primarily known for his achievements in meteorology and as a pioneer of polar research but today he is most remembered as the originator of continental drift hypothesis by suggesting.

Sea floor spreading caused the break up of pangea which prompted wegener to add this in support of his continental drift theory. Sea floor spreading is the phenomena of new sea floor being created through mid ocean ridges. It is the tectonic plates that move. Wegener never found out about the sea floor spreading hypothesis for he died in 1930 and the evidence and proof of that process only arrived in the late 1950s wegener like several before him.