Did Alfred Wegener Discover Sea Floor Spreading

Alfred wegener s continental drift theory.

Did alfred wegener discover sea floor spreading. It is important to know that the following specific fossil evidence was not brought up by wegener to support his theory. Close examination of a globe often results in the observation that most of the continents seem to fit together like a puzzle. This was the continental drift theory. 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.

Sea floor spreading caused the break up of pangea which prompted wegener to add this in support of his continental drift theory. Wegener also noted that the continents move up and down to maintain equilibrium in a process called isostasy. It is the tectonic plates that move. Alfred lothar wegener ˈ v eɪ ɡ ən ər.

The missing mechanism 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. 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. Wegener himself did not collect.

Alfred wegener and plate tectonics. He spent a great deal of time in greenland as part of several exploration and research expeditions. 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. Alfred wegener german meteorologist and geophysicist who formulated the first complete statement of the continental drift hypothesis.

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

The west african coastline seems to snuggle nicely into the east coast of south america and the caribbean sea. 1 november 1880 november 1930 was a german polar researcher geophysicist and meteorologist. Wegener proposed that the continents themselves move which is untrue. 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.