Alfred Wegener did something that many of us only dream of doing. He had wanted to elaborate on an opinon of Earth that was totally out there and tried to prove it! He was one of the many scientist who believed in the idea of one large continents that he imagened roughly fit together like a puzzle and wanted to go out on a limb to prove this theory. Scientest like Wagener imagened that Earth looked something like this at one point: One single landmass.

He argued that the similarity of these continents and the fossils found on the now distanced continents were evidence that these continents were drifting pieces of an ancient “supercontinent” [Bolt]. Wegener suggested that the lighter thicker coninental blocks floated above the oceanic crust millions of years ago similar to an iceburg in the sea.

The idea of “Float and Drift” is his explanation of the geographical phenomenon that occurred when oceanic crust similar to that of tar, floated to the surface and for thousands of years reached a balance and then drifted. We call this large floating continent Pangaea. However, Wegeners idea was not as easily accepted because he did not find reasoning to identify the strong forces that would propel these continents away from one another. What drove them apart? How did these plates drift through such a sea floor? Alfred would need the assistance and help of two other important figures in plate tectonics Harry Hess and Arthur Holmes to later make this plate tectonic, pangaea, and “floating and drifting” theories accepted in the science community. But they are coming up next!

How did Alfred’s theory assist with understanding Earthquakes and continents? Does this affect those theories? Why is it so important to the study of seismology?

Here is a great article about Alfred Wegener with more description and details about his theories and discoveries.

Click Here, to see an article about Alfred Wegener in the NEW YORK POST!

from Earthquakes and Plates