Dr. Edmar Bernardes DaSilva (Masters in Geography and Doctor of Geography Education)
Alfred Wegener: The Father of the Plate Tectonics Theory
(German Climatologist and Geophysicist)
The plate tectonics theory is the scientific theory which explains that the Earth is made of big chunks of the Lithosphere. The theory was created based on the old concept of continental drift developed by the German scientist Alfred Wegener during the first decades of the 20th century, and was welcomed by the majority of geoscientist during this time. Wegener as a meteorologist proposed tidal forces and pole flight force as the major forces causing continental drift. The scientific community of this time believed that these forces were too small to cause montion of the continental crust. Later in 1929 Wegener in the last publication of his book he changed to convection currents as the major driving force causing continental drift
Making it easier for the reader to understand: the LITHOSPHERE is divided into what we call TECTONIC PLATES. Out there we have seven to eight major plates, and all depends on how the plates are defined. But also a great number of minor plates (e.g. Scotia Plate near Antarctica). The TECTONIC PLATES (or lithospheric plates) float on the ASTHENOSPHERE.
Earth Layers
The plates’ movements happen in relation to each other. The tectonic plates have three types of boundaries:
- Convergent
- Divergent
- Transform
Major Plate Tectonics Boundaries (Source: The US Geological Survey)
To end this short article on plate tectonics you should learn that volcanic activites, earthquakes, oceanic trenchs formantion, and mountain-building take place on the length of these plates’ boundaries. The plates are compose of two types of LITHOSPHERE: the thick continental lithosphere, and the thin oceanic lithosphere. The superior part is called the crust (the crust can be continental and oceanic).
Finally, the theory of continental drift proposed by the meteorogist Alfred Wegener in1912, and expanded in his book The Origen of the Continents published in 1915 started the debate, which fifty years later gave us the THEORY OF THE PLATE TECTONICS.
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