Plate Tectonics and Continental Drift Infographic In the 20th century researchers realized that the Earths crust is not one piece but is made up of many huge tectonic plates upon which the. The geoscientific community accepted plate-tectonic theory after seafloor spreading was validated in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
The model builds on the concept of continental drift an idea developed during the first decades of the 20th century.
Plate tectonics continental drift. Did this article help you. Theory of Plate Tectonics When the concept of seafloor spreading came along scientists recognized that it was the mechanism to explain how continents could move around Earths surface. The theory of continental drift is most associated with the scientist Alfred Wegener.
Weve calculated that continents move about 5-10 cm per year on average. He is shown here at the base camp for Johan Kochs 1912-1913 Greenland expedition. Continental drift is the idea that continents passively move due to the movement of plate tectonics.
Continental drift over millions of years was caused by plate tectonics. Morgan later outlined the theory in. Today the theory of continental drift has been replaced by the science of plate tectonics.
We know continents move because we use GPS sensors to track their movements. And plate tectonics also explained how the movement of the plates create volcanoes and earthquakes and how the collision between continents gave rise to huge mountain. Continental drift and plate tectonics are two theories explaining the geological evolution of the earth specifically its crust.
Like the scientists before us we will now merge the ideas of continental drift and seafloor spreading into the theory of plate tectonics. Continental Drift however is a theory developed by Alfred Wager who suggested that in the past there was a super continent called Pangaea. It explains that the continents drifted apart because of the constant interaction between the earths tectonic plates and the heat of the earths core.
The theory of plate tectonics offers a mechanism acceptable to the physics community that can account for the continental motions described by Wegener DuToit and the paleomagnetists. The realization that Earths land masses move was first proposed by Alfred Wegener which he called continental drift. It accounts for all of the major features of the ocean basin and the surface of the Earth in general.
Like a conveyor belt continents ride on a plasticky layer known as the asthenosphere. In 1967 McKenzie and Parker suggested the theory of plate tectonics. Photograph from Pictoral Press.
In the early 20th century Wegener published a paper explaining his theory that the continental landmass es were drifting across the Earth sometimes plowing. Plate Tectonics It was from the continental drift theory convection current theory and the theory of seafloor spreading the theory of Plate Tectonics was formulated. Plate Tectonics is a theory of global tectonics in which the lithosphere is divided into a number of crustal plates each of which moves on the asthenosphere.
Plate tectonics is the theory that Earths land masses are in constant motion. The plate tectonics theory is based on the continental drift theory in that it explains how the supercontinent drifted apart into several plates.
