History Development of Plate Tectonics Theory

By kaulen-milner

  • Abraham Ortelius

    Abraham Ortelius was the one who came up with the continetnal drift theory. His evidence was that some parts of the world like: The Americas, Eurasia, and Africa fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.

  • Nicholas Steno

    Nocholas Steno's law of superstition was that each layer of rock is older than the layer above it.

  • James Hutton

    James Hutton used Steno's Law of Superposition. It compares rock layers to rocks above and below the rock.

  • Alfred Wegner

    Alfred Wegner was the first to introduce the theory of continental drift to the world. His idea was rejected because of missing evidence until 1950 when enough was found to support the theory.

  • Alfred Wegner

    While browsing the university library one day, Alfred came across a scientific paper that listed fossils of identical plants and animals found on opposite sides of the Atlantic. Fascinated by this information, Wegner began to look for, and find, more cases of similar organisms seperated by great oceans. The continents fit together like a jig-saw puzzle.

  • Arthur Holmes

    Arthur Holmes Theory is that the mantle goes under thermal convection.

  • Harry Hesss

    Sea floor spreading theory evidence in 1962. This lead tot his discovery of submerged and curiously flat-topped mountains.

  • Dan McKenzie

    McKenzie's theory is that the lithospher is divided into a few dozen plates that move across the earth's surface relative to each other.