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Continental drift is a highly supported scientific theory, originating in the early 20th century, that Earth's continents move or drift relative to each other over geologic time. [1] The theory of continental drift has since been validated and incorporated into the science of plate tectonics , which studies the movement of the continents as ...
The Wilson cycle theory is based upon the idea of an ongoing cycle of ocean closure, continental collision, and a formation of new ocean on the former suture zone.The Wilson Cycle can be described in six phases of tectonic plate motion: the separation of a continent (continental rift), formation of a young ocean at the seafloor, formation of ocean basins during continental drift, initiation of ...
Heezen was initially unconvinced as the idea would have supported continental drift, then a controversial theory. Many scientists, including Heezen, believed that continental drift was impossible at the time. Instead, for a time, he favored the Expanding Earth hypothesis, [20] [21] (now infamously) dismissing her explanation as "girl talk". [22]
The root of this was Alfred Wegener's 1912 publication of his theory of continental drift, which was a controversy in the field through the 1950s. [2] At that point scientists introduced new evidence in a new way, replacing the idea of continental drift with instead a theory of plate tectonics. [ 2 ]
Plates in the crust of the earth, according to the plate tectonics theory. In the general case, seafloor spreading starts as a rift in a continental land mass, similar to the Red Sea-East Africa Rift System today. [16] The process starts by heating at the base of the continental crust which causes it to become more plastic and less dense.
Cratons of South America and Africa during the Triassic Period when the two continents were joined as part of the Pangea supercontinent. A craton (/ ˈ k r eɪ t ɒ n / KRAYT-on, / ˈ k r æ t ɒ n / KRAT-on, or / ˈ k r eɪ t ən / KRAY-tən; [1] [2] [3] from Ancient Greek: κράτος kratos "strength") is an old and stable part of the continental lithosphere, which consists of Earth's two ...
The first eon in Earth's history, the Hadean, begins with the Earth's formation and is followed by the Archean eon at 3.8 Ga. [2]: 145 The oldest rocks found on Earth date to about 4.0 Ga, and the oldest detrital zircon crystals in rocks to about 4.4 Ga, [34] [35] [36] soon after the formation of the Earth's crust and the Earth itself.
This questioning represented a turning point in the study of the Earth. It was now possible to study the history of the Earth from a scientific perspective without religious preconceptions. With the application of scientific methods to the investigation of the Earth's history, the study of geology could become a distinct field of science.