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Dynamic Earth Class 5 24 January 2006 Any Questions? Interacting Earth SystemsVolcanoes contribute gases to the atmosphere. This is how the oceans were formed 3-4 Billion years ago The Deep: The beginnings of Plate Tectonics(Chapter 2) Plate Tectonics Fundamental Concept and Unifying Theory in Earth Science Idea is 100 yrs old Acceptance only within the past 30 years Plate Tectonics How and why did it come about? During the 1800’s geologists recognized many strange things that seemed to imply that the continents had once been together. The fit of the continents 1915: Alfred Wegener Origin of the Continents and Oceans The World’s Continental Shelves Fit of the continents Alexander du Toit: Continuity of rocks between Africa and South America If the northern continents are fit together, rock units match very well. The same kinds of fossils appear on both sides of the Atlantic(Mesosaurs lived in fresh water) Wegener’s reconstruction Acceptance of Continental Drift? Evidence for continental drift purely descriptive Description is not an explanation Theory must explain how continents move No plausible explanation for driving force Wegener thought that continents floated like boats across the solid ocean crust, dragged along by the tidal forces of the Sun and Moon Holmes’ explanation of continental drift (1928) Convection deep in the Earth could push and pull the continents apart, creating new oceanic crust through the process of seafloor spreading. Holmes’ explanation of continental drift (1928) Holmes’ theory was almost universally ignored because of the influence of Sir Harold Jeffreys… Holmes’ explanation of continental drift (1928) Holmes conceded that “purely speculative ideas of this kind, specifically invented to match the requirements, can have no scientific value until they acquire support from independent evidence.” Because it was difficult to under-stand how continents could move. What did we learn to make us more willing to accept the idea that the