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Harry Hess proposed the seafloor spreading hypothesis in 1960 (published in 1962 [1]); the term "spreading of the seafloor" was introduced by geophysicist Robert S. Dietz in 1961. [2] According to Hess, seafloor was created at mid-oceanic ridges by the convection of the Earth's mantle, pushing and spreading the older crust away from the ridge. [3]
Harry Hammond Hess (May 24, 1906 – August 25, 1969) was an American geologist and a United States Navy officer in World War II who is considered one of the "founding fathers" of the unifying theory of plate tectonics.
Hess' theory was that new seafloor is formed when magma is forced upward toward the surface at a mid-ocean ridge. If spreading continues past the incipient stage described above, two of the rift arms will open while the third arm stops opening and becomes a 'failed rift' or aulacogen. As the two active rifts continue to open, eventually the ...
Robert Sinclair Dietz (September 14, 1914 – May 19, 1995) was an American scientist with the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.Dietz, born in Westfield, New Jersey, [1] was a marine geologist, geophysicist and oceanographer who conducted pioneering research along with Harry Hammond Hess concerning seafloor spreading, published as early as 1960–1961.
With the theory of thrusting, nappes, thrust faults and subductions. The "Princeton University" group around H. H. Hess: Felix Andries Vening Meinesz, Harry Hammond Hess, John Tuzo Wilson, W. Jason Morgan and Frederick Vine. Overview of plate tectonics in: Kearey, Klepeis & Vine 2009.
The Glomar Challenger was built to help Harry Hess test the theory of seafloor spreading, which predicts that the age of rock samples increases with distance from the mid-ocean ridge. Accomplishments [ edit ]
With support from the maps of the sea floor, and the recently developed theory of plate tectonics and continental drift, Hess was able to prove that the Earth's mantle continuously released molten rock from the mid-ocean ridge and that the molten rock then solidified, causing the boundary between the two tectonic plates to diverge. [8]
In 1963, Frederick Vine and Drummond Matthews provided a simple explanation by combining the seafloor spreading theory of Harry Hess with the known time scale of reversals: sea floor rock is magnetized in the direction of the field when it is formed.