Did Alfred Wegener Discover Sea Floor Spreading

Alfred wegener was born in berlin germany on november 1 1880.

Did alfred wegener discover sea floor spreading.

He spent a great deal of time in greenland as part of several exploration and research expeditions. The west african coastline seems to snuggle nicely into the east coast of south america and the caribbean sea. In 1912 alfred wegener proposed a theory that the continents had once been joined and over time had drifted apart. Wegener also noted that the continents move up and down to maintain equilibrium in a process called isostasy.

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. 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. 1 november 1880 november 1930 was a german polar researcher geophysicist and meteorologist. Sea floor spreading is the phenomena of new sea floor being created through mid ocean ridges.

Alfred wegener and plate tectonics. 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. Sea floor spreading caused the break up of pangea which prompted wegener to add this in support of his continental drift theory. Wegener himself did not collect.

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. The reaction to alfred wegener s theory tells us much about the workings of science. Alfred wegener collected diverse pieces of evidence to support his theory including geological fit and fossil evidence. This was the continental drift theory.

It is the tectonic plates that move. Alfred wegener s continental drift theory. Close examination of a globe often results in the observation that most of the continents seem to fit together like a puzzle. 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. And a similar fit appears across the pacific. 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.