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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 ...
Alfred Wegener has been mischaracterised as a lone genius whose theory of continental drift met widespread rejection until well after his death. In fact, the main tenets of the theory gained widespread acceptance by European researchers already in the 1920s, and the debates were mostly about specific details.
He wrote a total ten papers on the subject of continental drift [2] Taylor's ideas about continental drift were independently discovered by Alfred Wegener in Germany three years later, in January 1912, and the theory of continental drift is historically often referred to as the "Taylor-Wegener hypothesis," [2] [6] [7] although Taylor himself ...
He developed the theory of the geodynamo, pioneered the use of seismology to study the sea floor, measured geothermal heat flow through the ocean crust, and found new evidence for the theory of continental drift.
Many distinguished scientists of the time, such as Harold Jeffreys and Charles Schuchert, were outspoken critics of continental drift. Despite much opposition, the view of continental drift gained support and a lively debate started between "drifters" or "mobilists" (proponents of the theory) and "fixists" (opponents).
Additionally, the theory of continental drift offered a possible explanation as to the formation of mountains; plate tectonics built on the theory of continental drift. Unfortunately, Wegener provided no convincing mechanism for this drift, and his ideas were not generally accepted during his lifetime.
Continental drift is the theory which emerged in the early 20th century that the Earth's continents have moved over geologic time relative to each other, thus appearing to have "drifted" across the ocean bed. [2] The idea of continental drift was subsumed by the theory of plate tectonics in the mid-20th century.
During the development of continental drift theory, there was not much exploration of the oceanic part of the world, only continental. Once people began to pay attention to the ocean, geologists found that the floor was spreading, and in different rates at different spots. [ 9 ]