Alfred Wegener pondering the theory of plate tectonics at a committee.
(http://www.pubs.usgs.gov/publications/ text/wegener.html)
Alfred Wegener pondering the theory of plate tectonics at
a committee.
(http://www.pubs.usgs.gov/publications/ text/wegener.html)
Alfred Wegener: 1880-1930
The German meteorologist is most renowned for his theory of continental drift and the concept of plate tectonics. He changed the history of geology with his theory that the continents were at one time a gigantic super-continent; also known as Pangaea. He did a lot of research on the subject, and although few believed his theory, Wegener eventually received the recognition he deserved (Encarta “Alfred Wegener”).
Alfred Wegener was born in Berlin, Germany on November 1st, 1880. In 1904, he acquired a doctorate in astronomy, but instead decided to pursue a career in meteorology. At the time, the telegraph, Atlantic cable, and wireless were the best tools used for storm tracking and forecasting. The next year Wegener worked at the Royal Prussian Aeronautical Observatory near Berlin, where he used kites and hot air balloons to study the upper atmosphere. In reaction to his great amount of research, Wegener was invited to join a Danish expedition to Greenland in 1906. He was among the first to have brought kites and balloons to study the atmosphere there. By now, Wegener was well known, and he was offered a teaching job at the University of Marberg. His lectures were on meteorology and astronomy; his colleagues, such as physics professor Hans Benndorf, gave Wegener a lot of praise. “With what ease he found his way through the most complicated work of the theoreticians, with what feeling for the important point (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Giants/Wegener/...)!”
In 1911, Wegener wrote his first book, The Thermodynamics of the Atmosphere, containing all his research on meteorology. It was well approved of, and soon became a standard text in Germany. In 1912, he again went to Greenland, this time making an astounding trip across the ice; 750 miles of nothing but snow in sight. With his knowledge from previous adventures and his most current studies, Wegener became an expert on polar meteorology and glaciology. Once he went back to Germany, he attempted to collect as much scientific evidence to prove his theory on continental drift. The next book he wrote was called The Origin of Continents and Oceans, published in 1915. It was finally recognized in 1922 and became very popular yet controversial. This book led up to an energetic debate among all the geologists about Wegener’s theory. Many geologists thought that land bridges had connected the continents millions of years ago, and had sunk into the sea as a result of the cooling and tightening of the Earth. Wegener pointed out that that continental crust contains mostly granite, and the oceanic crust, basalt. He also said that the continents shift in such a way that they create a balance during a process called isostasy. Wegener used the example of the Northern Hemisphere, and how the lands sub-ducted underneath the continental crust/ice, and that the ice eventually melted away. With these facts, he concluded that if land bridges did connect the continents and sunk to the bottom, they would have rose back to the surface again. There is only evidence that the continents were once connected, so Wegener stated that they had to have been joined, and later drifted apart (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Giants/Wegener...).
To explain the presence of mountain ranges, Wegener said that they may have formed on the Earth’s crusts like wrinkles, because of the cooling and contraction of the Earth. But this would mean the mountain ranges would be spread evenly all over the world; they are usually located at the edge of a continent. So, Wegener thought of a different theory; that the continents’ edges formed mountain ranges when they impacted against one another. He observed that Africa and South America fit together like a puzzle, and that the mountain ranges run across both of them without interference. In the third edition of his book (came out in 1922), Wegener had compiled a lot of evidence concerning the continental drift theory. He believed that 300 million years ago, all the continents had been joined in a super-continent ....he called it Pangaea, meaning “all lands,” and figured that they drifted apart from each other 200 million years ago. A countryman by the name of Hans Cloos states, “It (Wegener’s theory) placed an easily comprehensible, tremendously exciting structure of ideas upon a solid foundation. It released the continents from the Earth’s core and transformed them into icebergs of gneiss [granite] on a sea of basalt. It let them float and drift, break apart and converge. Where they broke away, cracks, rifts, trenches remain; where they collided ranges of folded mountains appear (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Giants/Wegener...).
Although quite a few believed Wegener’s theory, there were still skeptics. An American geologist named Frank Taylor had a similar theory like that of Wegener’s, and published his ideas in 1910. However, his theory was ignored, and Wegener’s was treated as a fairy tale, a joke. He was accused of attacking the “very foundations of geology,” and was thoroughly abused verbally. No German university would accept Wegener as a teacher, but finally he was accepted into the University of Graz in Austria. In 1924, he became a professor of meteorology and geophysics. The next two years he gave lectures to discuss his theory. One of the major problems was to find the forces that made the continents converge and push together. He came up with two hypotheses; centrifugal force caused by the rotation of the earth, and tidal waves on Earth caused by the gravitational pull of the sun and moon. Wegener learned that both of his hypotheses could not be totally proven, but knew that the force that displaced the continents also created the mountain ranges, faults, and compressions (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Giants/Wegener...).
Wegener broadened his continental drift theory, adding that Pangaea broke into a Northern piece, called Laurasia, and a Southern piece, named Gondwanaland by a geologist called Eduard Seuss. The process known as “plate tectonics” helped prove the accuracy of Wegener’s theory. The moving plates form the outer crust of the Earth. They carry the continents and the ocean floor, but the continents are less dense, making it easier to resist subduction. In 1930, Wegener returned to Greenland for another expedition. He and 21 other scientists were studying the ice cap and its climate. There were to be three different observation posts on each side of the ice. As a result of the weather, supplies were hard to obtain, and Wegener finally went to deliver supplies to another observation post. Once they got to the camp Eismitte, there was no longer a need for supplies; it was predicted to be able to last through the winter. Wegener’s colleague Fritz Lowe was very sick, so he stayed behind at Eismitte. This left only Wegener and Rasmus Villumsen to go back to there own camp. When none of them returned to the camp, a search party was sent out; 118 miles inland was where Wegener’s body was finally found buried. It was assumed that he had a heart attack and was buried by Villumsen. A mausoleum was made around Alfred Wegener’s body, and later an iron cross was placed there in his memory (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Giants/Wegener...).
His remarkable studies were a large contribution to the history of geology. It explained the remnant of the last ice age and glacial epochs. In the 1960’s his work was finally recognized because of the oceanographic research that proved it correct (Spaulding and Namowitz 236- ).