Abstract:The earth sciences underwent a revolution during the 1960s, ending nearly sixty years of controversy over the reality of continental drift. Before 1966, few workers accepted continental drift as a wor...The earth sciences underwent a revolution during the 1960s, ending nearly sixty years of controversy over the reality of continental drift. Before 1966, few workers accepted continental drift as a working hypothesis; most earth scientists preferred fixist theories. Fixist theories maintain that the continents and oceans have not appreciably changed their positions relative to each other, whereas theories within the continental drift tradition, hereafter referred to as the mobilist tradition, maintain that relative displacement occurs. However, most earth scientists became mobilists soon after the confirmation of seafloor spreading, and plate tectonics, the modern theory of continental drift, remains the reigning theory in the earth sciences. The aim of this chapter is to outline the major historical aspects of the plate tectonics revolution.Read More
Publication Year: 2009
Publication Date: 2009-04-13
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 1
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