The continental drift controversy. / Vol. IV, Evolution into plate tectonics

The Continental Drift Controversy......Page 1
Volume IV: Evolution into Plate Tectonics......Page 3
Contents......Page 5
Foreword......Page 10
Introduction......Page 11
Acknowledgments......Page 12
Abbreviations......Page 13
1.1 Introduction......Page 15
1.2 Wilson, the man......Page 16
1.3 Wilson champions contractionism and continental accretion, 1949-1954......Page 19
1.4 Wilson and Scheidegger raise difficulties with continental drift and mantle convection as the cause of island and mountain arcs, 1949-1954......Page 32
1.5 Wilson continues to support contractionism and reject mobilism, 1959......Page 35
1.6 Scheidegger acknowledges paleomagnetic support for mobilism, 1958, 1963......Page 45
1.7 Wilson combines slow Earth expansion and his contractionist account of orogenic belts, 1960......Page 47
1.8 Bernal and Dietz discuss seafloor spreading, October 1961......Page 49
1.9 Wilson becomes a mobilist, 1961......Page 50
1.10 Wilson matches the Cabot and Great Glen faults in support of mobilism, 1962......Page 60
1.11 Menard and Hess correspond about seafloor spreading, 1961, 1962......Page 64
1.12 Menard defends seafloor thinning and attacks Earth expansion, 1962......Page 67
1.13 Heezen attacks seafloor spreading and seafloor thinning, 1962......Page 70
1.14 Irving cautions Hess, 1961......Page 72
Notes......Page 75
2.1 Introduction......Page 76
2.2 Explaining marine magnetic anomalies......Page 77
2.3 Interpretation of northeast Pacific marine magnetic anomalies prior to Vine´s proposal, 1958-1962......Page 79
2.4 Interpretation of magnetic anomalies over ridges and seamounts prior to Vine´s proposal, 1953-1962......Page 84
2.5 Matthews, his early life; goes to Antarctica6......Page 98
2.6 Matthews visits the Falkland Islands and favors continental drift......Page 101
2.7 Matthews, his graduate work in the Department of Geodesy and Geophysics at Cambridge, 1958-1961......Page 103
2.8 Vine´s early interest in continental drift and undergraduate years at Cambridge, 1959-19629......Page 105
2.9 Vine begins research, 1962......Page 110
2.10 Mason and Raff on magnetic anomalies, 1962-1963......Page 115
2.11 Vine reviews the literature on marine magnetic anomalies, October, 1962 to January, 1963......Page 118
2.12 Matthews meticulous survey over the Carlsberg Ridge, November 1962......Page 123
2.13 Vine develops the Vine-Matthews hypothesis, early 1963......Page 128
2.14 Morley´s education and early work in paleomagnetism and aeromagnetic surveying......Page 138
2.15 Morley accepts reversals of the geomagnetic field and continental drift......Page 141
2.16 Morley´s hypothesis......Page 144
2.17 Morley´s paper is twice rejected23......Page 150
2.18 Why Morley´s paper was rejected and Vine and Matthews´ paper was accepted......Page 153
2.19 Two other Vine-Matthews-like hypotheses......Page 155
3.2 Wilson continues seeking further support for mobilism1......Page 162
3.3 The Royal Societys 1964 symposium on continental drift......Page 176
3.4 The Everett, Bullard, and Smith fit of the continents surrounding the Atlantic......Page 184
3.5 Paleomagnetism, other new evidence for continental drift, and mobilisms mechanism difficulty......Page 200
3.6 Menard ends his flirtation with mobilism......Page 207
3.7 Menard attacks seafloor spreading and Wilsons work on oceanic islands......Page 212
3.8 Early responses to the Vine-Matthews hypothesis, 1964......Page 216
3.9 Holmes on mantle convection, seafloor spreading, and Earth expansion......Page 230
3.10 Rapid Earth expansion under attack, 1963-1964......Page 241
4.1 Introduction......Page 247
4.2 Initial difficulties facing the Vine-Matthews hypothesis......Page 248
4.3 Vine, Matthews, and Cann defend and further develop the Vine-Matthews hypothesis, June 1964 to May 1965......Page 250
4.4 Mild support and criticism of the Vine-Matthews hypothesis during the first half of 1965......Page 255
4.5 Heirtzler, Le Pichon, and Talwani at Lamont Geological Observatory......Page 259
4.6 Lamonts view of mid-ocean ridges and rejection of the Vine-Matthews hypothesis: work on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge......Page 262
4.7 Vine, Wilson, and Hess at Madingley Rise, late 1964 to middle 1965......Page 269
4.8 Hess fine tunes and extends seafloor spreading, 1965......Page 273
4.9 Wilson develops the idea of transform faults......Page 275
4.10 Wilsons third trip around the world......Page 283
4.11 Vine independently proposes ridge-ridge transform faults......Page 292
4.12 Alan Coodes idea of transform faults15......Page 294
5.1 Outline......Page 307
5.2 Wilson and Vine work in the northeast Pacific......Page 308
5.3 Lamonts view of mid-ocean ridges: work in the northeast Pacific......Page 318
5.4 Lamonts view of mid-ocean ridges: work on the Reykjanes Ridge......Page 324
5.5 Geomagnetic reversals, the dominance of remanence, and Vines Ph.D. dissertation, August 1965......Page 331
5.6 Matthews seeks to explain the greater amplitude of the central anomaly......Page 337
5.7 The Ottawa meeting, September 1965......Page 339
5.8 The challenges of unraveling the Cenozoic history of the northeast Pacific......Page 352
6.1 Outline......Page 354
6.2 Lamont workers argue distribution of Atlantic Ocean floor sediments is incompatible with seafloor spreading: Hess disagrees......Page 355
6.3 Vine learns of corrections to the reversal timescale and fully accepts seafloor spreading: the November 1965 GSA meeting......Page 359
6.4 Improvements in the reversal timescale during 1966......Page 364
6.5 Opdyke and others at Lamont develop a reversal timescale based on the study of deep-sea cores......Page 373
6.6 Pitmans ``magic´´ profile over the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge, December 1965: Pitman, Heirtzler, and Talwani accept V-M3......Page 377
6.7 Cox and Doell become mobilists......Page 388
6.8 Vine turns the Vine-Matthews hypothesis into a difficulty-free solution......Page 389
6.9 Sykes confirms ridge-ridge transform faults......Page 400
6.10 Menard accepts seafloor spreading; Heezen renounces rapid Earth expansion......Page 417
6.11 Lamont workers argue that heat flow over the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is too low for seafloor spreading; Hess disagrees......Page 419
6.12 The Goddard conference: selling continental drift and seafloor spreading to the establishment......Page 426
6.13 Making sense of why Le Pichon, Heirtzler, and Talwani tried so hard to prove Hess wrong......Page 432
6.14 Maurice Ewing reluctantly accepts discontinuous seafloor spreading......Page 442
6.15 Why seafloor spreading was rapidly accepted by most marine geologists and geophysicists......Page 445
7.1 Outline......Page 451
7.2 Bryan Isacks and Jack Oliver at Lamont......Page 452
7.3 Isacks and Oliver launch their study of deep earthquakes......Page 457
7.4 Isacks and Oliver pin down mantle subduction......Page 460
7.5 McKenzie, the making of a geophysicist......Page 470
7.6 McKenzie interprets heat-flow data in terms of seafloor spreading......Page 477
7.7 Heirtzler and company extend the reversal timescale......Page 483
7.8 Morgan discovers plate tectonics......Page 484
7.9 Morgans presentations of plate tectonics: from April 1967 talk to March 1968 publication......Page 487
7.10 Morgans April 1967 AGU presentation......Page 490
7.11 Morgans 1968 paper ``Rises, trenches, great faults, and crustal blocks´´......Page 493
7.12 McKenzie discovers plate tectonics......Page 502
7.13 The keys to McKenzies discovery......Page 517
7.14 McKenzie and Parkers´ version of plate tectonics......Page 523
7.15 Comparison of Morgans and McKenzie and Parkers presentations of plate tectonics......Page 533
References......Page 536